Fahrenheit in Celsius
by Slaashyish
Summary: Rated for MA-level explicitness, albeit in fewer chapter than anticipated. YunaPaine garaunteed, others in future, I'm not going to say what they'll be, that would spoil the surprise. Suffice to say, Yuna and Paine aren't the only Gullwings with libidos.
1. Realisation

_Okay, First public try at this kind of thing. I don't own the rights to any of the characters or places etc [sigh. There're bits in Al Bhed, but in case you're not fluent (not that I am) I'll translate them. This story contains scenes of an adult nature, probably entirely of the Female homosexuality kind, so if that bothers you, turn back now! Slight possibility of Yuna\Rikku, but any chapter with such contain will have appropriately noticeable warnings._

_I think that's everything for now... eh, that's what the edit feature is for._

_Enjoy it... Please?_

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The knock was quiet, but Yuna was still awake enough to hear it, even over the hum of the engines in the background. Raising her head from the pillow, she slid off her bed and made her way over to the door, enjoying the feeling of the soft carpet on her bare feet, ignoring as she always did when the long tail of her auburn hair banged against her legs.

She activated the door, and it slid open to reveal Rikku, looking quite worried, but just as cute as ever. At 17, she was as old as Yuna had been on their first adventure together 2 years before, but she had always been far more up-beat, and bouncy, and probably always would be.

"Yunie, can I talk to you?" Rikku was the only one who ever called her 'Yunie', and Yuna loved that she was something like that with her cousin.

"Rikku, you know you can always talk to me. I'd prefer it to be during the daytime, but since we're both up…" She moved aside to give Rikku room to come in, closing the door behind her, and following her back to the bed.

Rikku clambered up, and sat cross-legged leaning back on he hands, she was rocking side-to-side slightly, the same way she always did, and, as always, her smallish, but firm breasts swayed with her. Yuna sometimes wondered whether Rikku did it on purpose to get more attention, but doubted it, Rikku hardly needed another way to get attention.

"I was talking to Paine earlier, and she said some stuff that's been bothering me…" Rikku began her explanation as Yuna was crawling back onto her bed. Resting her back against the headboard; she curled her legs under her, and asked the obvious question;

"What kind of stuff?"

Paine was the, somewhat reclusive, girl who finished off the trio; Yuna had only met her when she joined up with the Gullwings, the group of Al Bhed sphere hunters Rikku had set up with her brother, the imaginatively named, Brother. Yuna still knew hardly any more about Paine than she had on their initial meeting.

"Well, it's kind of embarrassing, and I'm not exactly sure about it, but…"

"What?"

"Um, I think she might have been coming on to me…"

"Really…? Paine was flirting with you? When?"

Rikku blushed a little, dropped her eyes to he knees, and whispered "About two minutes before I knocked on your door…"

Yuna's mouth opened in a wide 'O' of shock, "Two minutes!? Rikku, what did you do? Run away and come straight here?"

Rikku nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Rikku… how sure are you she was flirting with you? What was she saying?"

The younger girl looked into her cousins eyes again, and repeated exactly what Paine had said, and done, even going so far as to put her hands on Yuna's upper thigh before sitting back and hugging her knees.

After a few seconds, Yuna recovered from the shock; "That's pretty certain."

Another nod was all the response Rikku gave.

"From the look on your face I'm guessing you're not into the whole girl-on-girl thing though?"

Rikku squealed in surprise, jerking backwards "Yunie!?"

"What? I'm not allowed to be open-minded?"

"Sorry Yunie, I'm just a bit jittery right now."

Yuna crawled over to hug Rikku, sitting next to her and comforting her; the way Lulu had when Yuna was growing up on Besaid.

"Do you want me to talk to Paine about it?" Yuna asked, realising just how motherly she sounded doing so. Rikku either didn't notice or was too concerned with her own problem to tease her about it, which made Yuna realise just how worried Rikku really was, normally either of them would have jumped on a chance to make fun of what they saw as her obsession with protecting people.

"Would you? Thanks Yunie... you don't think she'll be angry do you?"

After everything they'd been through together, especially getting over her fear of Thunder, it always amused Yuna to see just how frightened Rikku could be of Paine, although to be fair, most of the Celsius' crew were frightened of Paine, except Barkeep, but then, he was a Hypello, it was quite hard to tell.

"This _is_ Paine we're talking about, and this is a pretty big secret she's shared with you... but don't worry Rikku. Even if she is mad, she's not going to hurt you... at least, I don't _think_ she'd hurt you... Not _really._" Yuna realised exactly how little this particular bit of honesty was helping Rikku's state of mind, and changed the subject quickly. "Where do you think she is now?"

Rikku's response was muffled by the pillow she'd jammed over her head, so Yuna had to prise it away to get a clearer answer, which took a while, and by the time she had the answer she knew it would have been faster to just go and look.

It was only as Yuna walked through the door of the bar that it occurred to her that Paine might not be alone, and she was wearing nothing but a knee-length night dress; a fact which the slightly chilled air inside the airship was making abundantly clear. As the door slid open her worst fears were confirmed as Brother, captain of the Gullwings, and quite possibly the craziest person Yuna had ever met, spat out his drink and fell backwards off his bar-stool shouting loudly in Al Bhed;

"Ur Fuf, So femtacd tnaysc yna yhcfanat! Cra fyhdc sa! CRA FYHDC SA!!"

Paine rolled her eyes, and grabbed him by the Mohawk, too irritated to deal with his wild fantasies now, and worried about how Yuna might react if he switched language (not that she'd ever admit to that). She literally kicked him out of the room, calling after him, "Oui'na zicd milgo cra tuach'd cbayg Al Bhed! Banjand!"

Yuna cocked her head to the side, surprisingly cute in her confusion; "What was that all about?"

"You don't want to know, trust me."

Yuna looked slightly doubtful for a moment, but then accepted it with the same good grace she always did. If it was important, she knew, they wouldn't have spoken in Al Bhed. That was how it worked on the ship.

Paine picked up her glass and finished the contents quickly, drinking the liquor faster than was advisable. That was a worrying sign, she was clearly upset; although she'd been fairly lenient with Brother by her usual standards, so Yuna wasn't sure what to expect next. She was not, however, surprised when Paine said, "I know why you're here, so we'd better talk somewhere more private. I'd expect you to suggest your room, but Rikku's in there and that could be... embarrassing..."

Paine blushed almost imperceptibly, and tried to hide it by running her hands through her hair in exasperation feigned out of desperation. It didn't fool Yuna for a second though, she realised that however much she tried to take control; Paine was as confused and worried as anyone would be in her situation.

"I guess it's your room then..." Yuna said before Paine could raise any other suggestions, moving towards the door. Paine moved faster, as if to intercept her, but instead, she stood in the doorway and looked around before saying, "It's clear, let's go."

This secrecy was only confusing Yuna even further, but she decided that pressing Paine for details would only distract her from the real issue.

After a swift walk along the Airship's cabin level, they reached a door whose only distinguishing mark was that it had no distinguishing marks. All the other crew members had adorned their cabin doors with symbols or ornaments to show whose room was on the other side, but Paine had left hers blank. She punched in the security code, and Yuna noticed with some amusement that it was twice as long as any of the other security codes on the ship, even the code for the armoury. The inside of the cabin was, at first glance, as spartanly furnished as the door, but there were some personal touches, not least the rack of swords against the wall, near the bed.

Paine gestured Yuna through, and closed the door behind them, she sat on the edge of her bed, and waited. Yuna wasn't sure about whether she should sit on the bed or not, then realised that the only other place to actually sit was the floor, and so she sat next to her friend.

"How upset is Rikku?" Paine's forwardness was a little disconcerting.

"What makes you think she's upset, Paine?"

"Well the way she looked at me; then ran away, gave me a hint." Paine dropped her head into her hands, and she trembled as she tried to hold in her emotions. She relaxed slightly when Yuna's hand rested on her shoulder, "She's just confused, I mean, you haven't exactly told us a lot about yourself, and then you start flirting with her? I think Rikku's just a bit of shocked."

"_She's_ shocked!?" Paine laughed ironically, "How do you think I feel? I suddenly realise exactly what it is that's felt so weird my whole life, and the girl who helped me realise it is terrified of the idea that I was thinking of her that way."

Yuna suddenly realised that no matter how scared Rikku was, Paine had to be infinitely more scared, because her life had just changed so hugely. She realised that Paine was staring at her...

"What?"

"Nothing, I just never appreciated how beautiful you actually are. I mean, I knew; but in the same kind of way you notice the beauty in a flower or something like that."

Yuna blushed at the compliment, and then started to worry slightly about where Paine's train of thought might be leading. Her earlier comments about being open minded came back to her and she realised that if she ran away too, she'd be doing just what Rikku'd done, but she gave herself, and Paine, one last chance to stop.

"What did you mean, exactly, when you said Rikku helped you realise?"

"I'm a lesbian Yuna, I'd have thought that wa..."

"I know that bit... I mean, do you love her, or was it just like what you just said about the flowers and everything?"

Paine pulled away, shrugging Yuna's hand off her shoulder. "You're trying to stop me aren't you Yuna? You want me to focus on Rikku so you don't have to deal with this stuff."

_Okay, I know there was nothing explicit in this chapter, and yes it's a bit of a cliff-hangery thing, but hey, that's what chapter 2 is for... Yay!_

_I'd love some responses, but I don't mind if you just read it, I'm not doing this for the recognition._


	2. Confrontation

_And now the bit you've all been waiting for...or not..._

_There's almost definitely some Out of Charactery-ness here, but I can't exactly get Yuna and Paine having 'fun' without a bit can I?_

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Yuna grabbed her friend roughly and twisted her face-to-face, "I came here to talk to you and 'deal with this stuff'; and I thought you had enough manners to answer a direct question."

Paine smirked at the mask of 'in-control-Yuna', but gave in anyway, "Seeing Rikku in that nightie thing with her nipples hard like yours were..."Yuna glanced down, and blushed while Paine continued, "The sight turned me on, and I just gave in, probably because of the surprise."

"So it's something to do with these dress-things then?" Yuna moved closer to Paine, making sure the fabric was pulled tight over her breasts, and she smiled as Paine's eyes drifted down towards them. She was surprised by how well her little impromptu seduction was working, considering she'd never even thought about doing it before. Right now though, she had no idea how to continue, hoping that Paine would make the next move. She didn't have to wait too long; Paine unclasped her armoured wrap, and tossed it onto the floor, revealing the very close fitting tube that held her breasts. She raised her hand gently to Yuna's cheek, and pushed her backwards while moving her lips closer.

Yuna's head hit the mattress just before their lips met. It was a soft, careful kiss, so much like her memories of the Pool in Macalania, that she almost began to cry, but held herself, making sure she didn't ruin the moment.

Eventually, the kiss had to end, but they were both smiling when it did.

"Never would've imagined I'd be kissing a High Summoner, let alone you."

Yuna giggled, "Wanna do it again?"

The answer was obvious, and Paine's lips again locked onto Yuna's; this time, Paine opened her mouth just enough to let her tongue flick through and touch Yuna's lips, Yuna opened her mouth to allow Paine's tongue to go further, and extended her own tongue to meet Paine's. Soon the two girls were kissing passionately, their hands in each other's hair, but yet to move on to full body exploration. There wasn't a lot left they couldn't feel through what little they were wearing anyway, Paine's outfit not leaving much to the imagination despite what first glances might suggest.

With Paine still lying on top of Yuna, her leg had found its way between Yuna's thighs and was pressing gently into her crotch. Slowly stroking it up and down, she started moving on past the kiss. Her left hand moved to cup Yuna's head, holding it close, while her right began to stroke Yuna's breast. The nipple, which was already hardened by the chill, stiffened even further at Paine's inexperienced, but successful, teasing. Paine's kisses moved to Yuna's neck, and she gasped as Paine squeezed on her nipple.

She was quite disappointed when Paine pulled away completely, but understood as she watched Paine unfasten most of the buckles holding her outfit together, enough to remove her clothes completely. As she stood there, baring herself fully to her friend, Paine wondered how much of what Yuna was doing was out of mere curiosity, and whether anything like this would ever happen again. Seeing Yuna lying on her bed, touching her own body, Paine realised that was a problem for later, and began to stroke herself; imagining it was Yuna doing it, feeling herself become even more aroused as her fingers moved, she closed her eyes, She heard an unmistakable rustling, but waited for silence before opening her eyes to view the unbound femininity that was Yuna; standing before her, just as naked as she was.

She also saw the flicker of doubt in Yuna's eyes and realised that, whatever had happened already, Yuna wasn't as comfortable with this as she let on. Paine smiled inwardly; Yuna being unsure was no reason to stop. Just because Yuna might not be comfortable _doing_ something, she could hardly complain about having it done to her.

Paine stepped forward, and pressed her body close to Yuna's; embracing her with a deep kiss. Slowly, she turned them so she was between Yuna and the bed, then moved backwards, so that she could sit on it. Yuna felt the bed against her legs, and so lifted them onto it. She was kneeling over Paine's lap with her legs spread open, but she was too lost in the kiss to be paying her position any attention.

In this position however Paine had complete access to Yuna's breasts, which she took advantage of instantly, squeezing them gently as she stroked over the nipples with her thumbs. Yuna was lost in the moment, and it didn't matter that she'd never even thought about kissing Paine before tonight, all she wanted was for the perfection of this moment to continue for ever. She moved her hips against Paine's hoping her friend would understand the wordless message. Paine broke the kiss, and looked into Yuna's eyes, seeing the lust burning there, and asked her, just to hear it out loud; "What do you want me to do next Yuna?"

"Kiss me here." Her hands went to her crotch and she stroked herself slowly. "Kiss me here, like we kissed before."

"Of course, my lady…" She smirked, enjoying the expression of surprised amusement that flashed across Yuna's face at Paine's use of her official summoner's title. She leant Yuna back, supporting her gently, and placed a soft kiss right between her friend's breasts. Slowly extending her tongue, she slid it up to Yuna's neck, and whispered in her ear, "But not just yet."

Paine looked deep into Yuna's eyes, and kissed her again, feeling sure there was more than mere lust in the kiss. Her hands moved down Yuna's back as she twisted around, laying her friend and lover onto the softness of the bed, she stroked Yuna's sides, and glided down to her thighs, massaging them gently, her thumbs focussing on the most sensitive areas. Paine knew exactly what Yuna wanted her to do, but she delayed to make their time together as long and special as she could.

Her lips caressed the valley of Yuna's cleavage kissing the inside of the beautiful firm curves that had often invaded her thoughts, even when she was sure she was straight, Yuna's quiet breathing was deep and, though silent, there was no mistaking her pleasure, the silence was broken as Paine suddenly locked her lips around one of Yuna's firm pink nipples, sucking it as far into her mouth as she could before releasing it, and repeating the treatment on the other nipple, this time, licking it swiftly before returning to the first, and twirling her tongue round it.

As she experimented with what her mouth could do to Yuna's delicious breasts, delighting in every new pleasure she brought her friend, her hands moved further and further up Yuna's thighs, heightening the pleasure as every sensation intensified the others and she felt herself getting wet, something it didn't take Paine's advancing fingers long to notice. She released Yuna's nipples from her mouth's attack, and smiled at Yuna's face, her eyes closed in anticipation and pleasure, her mouth smiling, but slightly open. Paine pulled herself up and slid her tongue between Yuna's lips, unable to stop herself from thinking about Yuna's other lips. Yuna closed her mouth on Paine's tongue unthinkingly, sucking it gently, flicking her own tongue against the tip, until it was gently pulled away. Yuna felt it trace a line down her body, across her cheek, down her neck, between the join of her shoulder blades, retracing its heavenly time around her still firm nipples, then down across her abdomen, twirling around her belly button, but moving on; finally reaching its destination.

Paine had no idea how to proceed, she was completely lost, ever since removing her clothes, she'd been going off instinct; feeling completely out of her depth.

She realised this was exactly how to continue, going off her own desires had worked so far, and the only thing she wanted to do right now was taste Yuna's core, and bring the ultimate pleasure to the girl who had so quickly helped her tear down wall's she didn't realize she'd built. She pressed her tongue against the folds of Yuna's greatest treasure, feeling incredibly pleased with the way her friend squirmed and moaned. Encouraged, she slid her tongue up along the sensitive line, only pushing in the tiniest bit to allow herself the first taste of Yuna's unique honey.

She hardly believed how perfect it seemed to be, and soon she was pushing further, licking harder; kissing and sucking her friend, desperate for another taste.

Looking down her body, between her breasts, Yuna could see her friend's head moving up and down, each movement causing her such intense pleasure she could hardly believe it. She curled the fingers of her left hand into Paine's hair, but left her right to keep squeezing on her nipples. Over the past two years, she had pleasured herself many times, but nothing she had ever managed alone could compare to what Paine was making her feel. The tongue of that reclusive 18 year old was beginning to push into her, making the pleasure even more intense, and Yuna could feel her clitoris hardening and she instantly knew that Paine had noticed as well. Yuna was in a world of rapture, nothing existed but her pleasure, and the mouth making causing it all.

Paine pressed the tip of her tongue against Yuna's clit, while she started stroking her with her fingers. Paine had been unable to resist pleasuring herself along with Yuna, and had been sliding a finger slowly in and out of herself for several minutes. She knew Yuna wanted to orgasm, but she wanted to make Yuna's climax as good as possible. She rubbed her finger in circles around her own clit, while her mouth closed around Yuna's and she finally slid her finger all the way inside Yuna.

Paine moaned in pleasure, unable to keep quiet any longer. Yuna was breathing heavily, each inhalation almost a gasp, and the vibrations from Paine's moan stimulated her in a completely new way. "Paine... Do that... again..."

Misunderstanding her, Paine almost removed her finger completely, and slid it back in again fast, repeating the motion, moving faster until both her hands were moving in the same rhythm. Yuna moaned, feeling herself getting closer, "Ohhh... n-no... not th-ah-that... Moan for me Paine... please...ohhhn"

Paine, though unsure why, gave in and began to imitate Yuna's vocalisations, allowing her desire to be heard, she noticed a slight change in the intensity of Yuna's moaning.

Yuna couldn't help herself from moaning louder and louder, she could feel it building inside her, and she didn't even want to try and hold it off... "Pai...hhmmm... Paine, I... I'm...Ohhh Nhhnnn Ohhhh!"

Paine let Yuna's orgasm happen without moving her mouth from its grip on her nub, but she moved her right hand from pleasuring herself to rub the sides of Yuna's slit, letting both her hands get covered in Yuna's orgasmic release.

When Yuna's orgasm eventually faded, much to both their disappointments, Paine crawled up the bed to lie next to her, sucking her finger, revelling in a taste she knew she'd never for get, and hoped she'd never have to just remember.

"What's so tasty about your fingers?" Yuna was drained by her climax, and could barely lift her head, or keep her eyes open.

A kinky thought entered Paine's mind, and she figured she'd go with it, after all she'd done for Yuna, it was the least she deserved; "Try for yourself..." She licked one of her fingers, and then slipped it into Yuna's waiting mouth. Yuna suckled her finger with enthusiasm, not releasing it until after more than a minute. Her eyes closing she licked her smiling lips and said; "Weird but yummy. What was it?"

Paine looked down at her sleepy friend, already sliding the finger Yuna had sucked into herself again, she answered her with a kiss; "Us."

Yuna's last thought as she finally drifted off to sleep was 'We taste good.'

_This is it so far, if you want more, you can have it, eventually... If you don't tell me though, I'll just keep it all to myself... Muahahahahh!!_


	3. Discovery

_Back by popular demand... well fairly popular. There's a bit of a time-overlap, but I didn't want to interrupt Paine and Yuna just to tell you what Rikku's doing at this point, even if it does turn out to be just as much fun. _

It was a little worrying, Yunie'd been talking to Paine for a while now; surely it didn't take this long to explain how she was feeling. Rikku pulled the pillow off her head, and sat up, "Yunie, Where are you?" Now the shock had faded Rikku found herself wondering why she'd run away from Paine like that, obviously it wasn't something she'd ever thought about before, but it wasn't exactly scary was it?

Smoothing down her night-dress, Rikku noticed just how obvious the lack of underwear was in these things, no wonder Paine never seemed to wear hers. Rikku's mind drifted back to the day she and Yuna had bought them, Cloth from Besaid, shaped in Kilika, and sold in Luca. Yunie wanted it to remind her of Besaid, and Rikku thought it'd be fun if they all had matching clothes, even if only when they slept.

Paine hadn't even tried hers on with them, she'd just sat there quietly watching her and Yunie twirling and looking at themselves in the mirror. Rikku had thought she just didn't want to take part in the girliness of dressing up like that, but maybe she'd just wanted to watch them. Rikku felt funny at that thought, not bothered exactly, just funny. She walked quickly to the door, and peeked out into the corridor, 'It's empty, good'. Trying to look calm, while at the same time looking around to make sure you're alone, isn't easy; and after a while Rikku gave up on looking calm.

Though it didn't take her long to get to the Bar; it did take her a while to summon up the courage to open the door, which was why it annoyed her to only find Barkeep in there; "Helloo Mish Rikkoo, how can I help yoo?"

"Where are Yunie and Paine?" Rikku knew she sounded like she was in a rush, but that was fine with her. Right now she just wanted to talk to Paine herself, even though she didn't know what the vilg she was going to say.

"I shink zhey went too mish Paine'sh room..."

"Thanks Barkeep" Rikku whirled around and marched off, almost missing Barkeep's "Pleash don't tell her I told yoo!"

Rikku desperately wracked her brains trying to think how to talk to Paine, but the only thing she could think about was how Paine's expression had gone from hopeful to depressed in the blink of an eye. Before she knew it, she was outside Paine's door and almost knocked before she heard Yuna on the other side of the door;

"Wanna do it again?"

Rikku listened closer; then barely held the gasp, Paine was kissing Yunie... She was shocked at the feeling of betrayal that took over, partly because she wasn't sure who she felt betrayed by; Paine was flirting with her only, what was it, not even half an hour before, and Yuna had come here to defend her. Well it was definitely a method of protection that Rikku never would have come up with.

As she listened to her two closest friends making out, she realized that, it wasn't just that weird betrayal she was feeling, at first she was kinda freaked out at her own body's reaction to the images she couldn't keep out of her mind. She knelt down next to the door, leaning her head against it, she listened to the soft noises coming from inside. Gradually giving in to how she felt; her right hand rubbing her breast through the silky material of the dress, while her left stroked her own thigh.

It wasn't important that one of the voices she could hear was her cousin's; she wanted to join them, but even through the haze in her mind she knew that opening the door would stop any of them from getting what they needed right now. Instead she tried to keep with them as much as possible, wishing desperately she had someone to help her, to touch her body, and caress her lips, a tongue for her own to dance with. Her mind threw up images as she slowly caressed her entire body, mostly flashes to match the sounds of her friends, but other pictures came to her as well. Rikku's imagination was in overdrive, all the people she'd ever thought of as good looking seemed to be having an orgy in her head, so it wasn't long before she got tired of having the dress in the way.

The cold metal floor made her keep it on, but she pulled her arms out of the sleeves, so she was still surrounded by it's smooth warmth, but could easily reach the source of her own heat. She heard a body land on the bed, and just caught Paine whisper to Yuna, "...not just yet." She realized that she was moving faster than them, but didn't care; she'd have to keep quiet, but she knew that wasn't impossible. She was no where near as innocent as Pop wanted to believe, and hadn't been even when she'd had to live 'under his roof'. She knew exactly what she liked, and pinched her nipples firmly with her left hand while her right went to where she really needed it.

As her fingers started to stroke up and down her smooth slit, she found herself already struggling to stifle a moan. Just listening to them was making her hotter than anything ever had before, and she could barely restrain herself from plunging her fingers deep inside. Somehow she managed it, and kept herself in check until she heard a moan from Yuna that could only mean they'd caught up.

No matter how much she wanted it, she didn't rush herself; knowing Paine and Yuna were going slowly made her want to do the same, hard as it was. Finally, she slid her middle finger inside, moving it up and down inside, she couldn't stop herself from letting out a little moan of pleasure. Luckily, Yuna was making enough noise to cover it, so Rikku let herself moan occasionally, trying to time each little increase in her pleasure with Yuna's. She moved her index finger to join the middle, and started sliding them in and out as far as she could, which wasn't their whole length, Pop was right about one thing; Rikku hadn't yet met anyone who deserved _that _commitment.

Her left hand moved away from her nipples, which were getting sore from her self-abuse. She stroked her breasts one last time before moving it down to join its partner. It had taken all her willpower to restrain herself from this so far, but Yunie's unmistakable exclamation meant she didn't have to anymore. Her first two left fingers were on either side of her clit, and moving them together she trapped it and rubbed; slowly at first, but gradually getting faster as she heard Yunie moaning louder and faster.

To Rikku's dismay everything went quiet too soon after she heard Yuna's powerful climax. She didn't stop touching herself, but she slowed down again. Eventually she gave up on the secrecy trusting to her luck that they'd fallen asleep. She closed her mouth and her eyes firmly, and started pushing into herself harder and faster, rubbing vigorously on the sensitive nub until she felt herself starting to cum. It was too late to move, even if she'd felt able to, and she finally let go of everything that had been weighing on her mind for so long. She forgot everything when the blissful waves washed over her, the worries flowing away like the biccu-ziela from between her legs, pooling on the rapidly dampening dress. When she finally descended, she fell asleep almost instantly with both her hands still tucked between her legs; leaning against the doorframe of Paine's room.

_I know it's a bit shorter than the others, and it might read slightly roughly, but I wrote it all in one go, which was an achievement for me._

_I've read through it properly, and fixed a couple of things that didn't seem to fit quite right. If there's anything that still seems off, tell me._


	4. Confirmation

_Dear Readers, you have my sincerest apologies for the length and lateness of this chapter, It's less than half the length of any of the others, and I can't even say it was worht the wait, because it's little more than an interlude, tying up some loose ends. I'll try and get the next one up sooner._

Yuna had barely been asleep for a minute when Paine heard another moan. She realized that there was someone outside her door. The voice was clearly female, and she definitely sounded like she'd been listening, and copying what she and Yuna had been doing. Even as near to orgasm as she was, Paine was still lucid enough to know there was only one person on board with a voice like that. Rikku had been listening to them, and had clearly liked what she'd heard. A whole new set of images entered Paine's mind, and overlapped with the memories already there, bringing her even closer to the brink.

She began to change the motion of the two fingers already sliding quickly in and out of herself; moving them from top to bottom in time with their thrusting. Squeezing her ample breasts with her free hand, she also began to press down on her clitoris with her palm. It didn't take long before she'd followed her friends over the edge into rapture. Despite trying to keep quiet so as not to wake them, she was unable to remain totally silent, her breath becoming ragged and heavy as she finally found the true release she'd been searching for all her life.

Unlike her friends however, she didn't fall asleep immediately; wanting to be sure, she moved to the door, and opened it; catching a gently sleeping Rikku, and lifting her off the floor.

After half-carrying her over to the bed, and laying her down, she locked the door, and prepared to sleep. 'But first...' a nasty thought had just sprung up. 'Hey, it's not that nasty... She _is_ the only one wearing anything.'

Grinning with the kind of energy that only comes from a combination of it being so late that it's early, and the opportunity to pull a practical joke, she slowly removed Rikku's dress; slowly kissing her way up her body. When Rikku's dress lay in a heap with Yuna's and Paine's clothes, Paine moved Rikku's thighs apart; and, still smiling evilly, licked Rikku clean, delighting in the opportunity to compare the different tastes. The two cousins tasted so similar, and yet distinctly different.

Rikku shuddered and Paine realised that if she spent too long there, Rikku might wake up, and it would be a bit awkward to explain just what she was doing, especially if Yuna woke up as well. It suddenly struck Paine just what tonight could mean. If Yuna was really comfortable with it, she might want to have a relationship; something Paine had been trying to avoid for a long time. She was even more surprised to find that, despite everything, the idea of being in a relationship, even the possibility of falling in love didn't bother her anymore, at least not when the other person involved was Yuna.

Paine found herself becoming a little light headed, and for an absurd moment attributed it to all sorts of fantastic reasons; finally realizing that her exhaustion had caught up with her, and she was very near to falling asleep, and after one final glance at Yuna's sleeping face, gave in to it.


	5. Consequences

_Usual discalaimers apply; sorry it's been a while in the making, I've had Uni stuff to sort out. That and I just haven't been able to figure out exactly what was going to happen next. It might seem fairly obvious, but the specifics are always the hardest bits to work out. If it's any consolation, It's back to the usual length for my chapters._

Yuna woke to find a hand lying comfortably across her stomach. After a moment of almost panic, she remembered that she'd spent the night with Paine. There were another few moments of pleasant recollection before she realized there was something not quite right. She lifted the hand off her and looked up the arm it was connected to, her subconscious screaming at her for not noticing the obvious yet.

Among the thoughts crowding into her sleep fogged mind, most of which involved Paine and a lack of clothing, one word surfaced and screamed for attention; _tan_.

Yuna jerked away from Rikku's arm and barely kept from screaming in shock. 'What the hell is Rikku doing here?' she thought as she calmed down. She sat back on her feet, finally noticing as she did so that Paine had been lying between them. 'And why the hell is she naked?' She tried to avoid looking directly at her cousin's naked body. Even though there wasn't much of it she didn't see on a regular basis, it was the bits she'd never seen which were making her. 'What does this mean, did Paine and Rikku...? No, they could have done... Not while I was lying here asleep. But, then why is Rikku lying here naked?!'

While Yuna tried to rationalise the sight before her, Paine stirred, and opened her eyes. Seeing the fear and confusion on Yuna's face, she finally began to think that maybe stripping Rikku's clothes might have some consequences. "Morning Yuna."

Yuna jumped, looking down at Paine, then her own body, and then back at Paine she tried to cover herself while appearing calm, "Morning." She caught Paine's amused glance at her attempted modesty, and the confidence with which Paine was just lying there unabashed, and gave up; letting her arms fall into her lap.

Paine sat up and removed Rikku's hand from her waist, where it had fallen when Yuna moved away. "I suppose I should explain about Rikku."

"That _would_ be nice, but I'm sure it's completely logical."

"Seriously Yuna? You think there could actually be a logical reason that Rikku is lying naked in a bed where we made love last night?" Looking at Yuna she thought back on what she'd said, looking for the joke; "What's so funny Yuna?" she asked suspiciously.

"You said 'made love'."

"No I didn't. I said..." Paine trailed off. "I did, didn't I?" She tried to seem unconcerned, as if it didn't mean what it did; "Well what else should I have called it then?"

"Well, there's 'sex' for a start. Or there's intercourse, mutual masturbation, technically it was cunnilingus..." Yuna started counting off the answers on her fingers, as though there was an endless list, but Paine interrupted as she'd expected her to.

"Okay, okay. I get it, there's plenty of things I could have said... Do you want to know why Rikku's here or not?" It was a desperate, obvious attempt to change the subject, and she knew it. It was obvious Yuna could tell as well, but she dropped the topic anyway, the slight grin on her lips the only sign that she was enjoying her little victory.

"Alright, tell me."

Paine started to explain in the most basic manner possible but Yuna pressed for details. "Come on Paine, what did you do right after I fell asleep?"

"I got annoyed that you'd just fallen asleep." She joked, smiling to show she didn't really mean it. "How much detail do you want? There's detail, graphic detail, and re-enactment detail." She smiled and stroked her body suggestively as she said the last part.

Yuna smiled wryly; "Option three please."

Paine smiled, partly at the idea of masturbating for the beautiful, sexy woman in front of her, but mostly because Yuna asking her to could only mean one thing. "Right, option three it is. A physical re-enactment of what I did while you were asleep. The first thing I did was climb back onto the bed; lying on my side, facing you." She pulled Yuna down with her; lying just as she had last night, on her right side, with both hands between her legs, leaving her head unsupported. She pressed her hands against her rapidly moistening vagina and started stroking herself gently. "I picked up where I'd left off while I was cunnilingussing you, so it'll take a little longer this time."

Yuna laughed quietly, and shuffled closer, "Would it help if I kissed you?" She didn't wait for an answer however, leaning in and closing her lips on Paine's, and sighing happily as her tongue met no resistance as she pushed it in. After the long passionate kiss ended, Paine looked into Yuna's mismatched eyes and saw the happiness shining there, knowing that Yuna would be seeing the same in her own crimson ones. She closed her eyes as Yuna kissed her again, and felt her lover sliding a hand across her breast and rubbing her nipple. She felt Yuna's other hand on her shoulder, pushing gently, and she allowed herself to be rolled onto her back, feeling Yuna's weight resting on her, their breasts pressing together, stiffened nipples dragging across the soft flesh. She broke the kiss; "Whose story is this?"

Yuna retorted quickly; "What's the point of telling a story if you can't make bits up? Besides, I was getting bored with your version."

"Why don't I skip to the end and we can just start a new story?" She kissed Yuna's face and pulled her hands out from under Yuna, placing one on either side of Yuna's soft backside.

"That _does_ sound fun... Okay, skip to the end."

"I heard Rikku outside the door, and since she'd fallen asleep there I figured she'd be better off inside. Simple." She squeezed Yuna's cheeks and ground their pelvises together; "Now where were we?"

Before Yuna could respond however they both heard a scream from beside them, and looking, they saw Rikku struggling to move away from them. Rikku screamed again when she realized she was nude, and they both got up to try and calm her down before she found anything else to scream about. "Rikku, calm down!" Yuna tried to reason with her cousin while Paine hung back, unable to resist admiring Yuna's curves from behind.

"Yunie, what's happening?" Rikku had grabbed at the bed covers and huddled beneath them, hiding her entire body from site, causing her words to become muffled slightly.

"Don't worry Rikku; Paine brought you in from the corridor last night while you were asleep." She sat on the bed nest to the huddled mass that was her cousin, and placed her hand where she thought Rikku's shoulder was. Renewed screams told her otherwise; "Yunie, please tell me that wasn't you?"

"Why Rikku what...?"

Rikku screamed again "Yunie! Oui zicd knyppat so pnaycd!"

Yuna turned to Paine; "What's a pnaycd? What did I do?"

Paine reached up and squeezed Yuna's right breast in answer, "Pnaycd means breast Yuna. And you just grabbed Rikku's" She added, confirming Yuna's second greatest fear. She pushed away Paine's hand, now was not a good time for lingering caresses. There was a screaming Al Bhed girl hiding under a sheet, and more sexual acts were not going to help. "Paine, get Rikku some clothes, and me too."

Paine sighed and walked over to her closet, knowing the Yuna was better at dealing with this sort of thing than she was. She got dressed the easiest, fastest way she could think of, opting for as modest an outfit as the spheres seemed to allow. Slotting the Samurai sphere into it, she felt the familiar shift in reality as the light glowed around her body, resolving into the outfit. She left the sword by the door, and locking it behind her, set off to Rikku and Yuna's rooms. Accepting the irony that if she'd taken the time to put Rikku in her own bed last night, she and Yuna might this very minute be 'writing a new story'. Her irritation was even obvious to Brother, who, whatever he might have been doing in the corridor, suddenly decided it wouldn't be important to Paine; and wisely ducked into the first open door.

_Hope you like it. As you may have noticed, the probability of Yuna/Rikku stuff isn't very high, even though I warned about it at the beginning. Might still happen though. Depends how convoluted my plot becomes. I tend to do that._


	6. Decisions

_I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry. I have no reasons. I don't even have excuses. The only consolation I can give you is that at least it's the right length._

After Yuna agreed to put something on, Rikku's head finally emerged from under Paine's bed sheet. Yuna passed Rikku her own nightdress, and turned her back while Rikku dressed as quickly as she physically could while trying desperately to stay almost completely inside the bed.

Eventually, Rikku had calmed down enough for an actual conversation to take place and as Paine opened the door, did not immediately run over and activate her garment grid. Instead, she calmly selected the White mage sphere, and, once fully covered up, sat down with her friends, both of whom were dressed in similarly conservative clothing.

Yuna was the only one who seemed comfortable starting the conversation; "Rikku, you know what happened last night right? Is there something about it that bothers you?"

"Um..." Rikku looked both nervous and confused, she was struggling more with what _she'd_ done than what Paine and Yuna had done. "I get... well I kinda get what happened with you Yunie, and, well I mean, it's not like there's nothing wrong with it I guess. I just never really thought you would." She finished, rather weakly, not that the start had been particularly strong.

Paine was not convinced; "Rikku, you can't be serious. You just not expecting Yuna to have sex with another girl does not explain why you're still so freaked out about this. Yht oui ryjah'd aqbmyehat fro ouin tnacc fyc cuygat eh lis."

Paine didn't like speaking Al Bhed in front of Yuna, but there were certain things that Yuna didn't need to know just yet. Rikku's suddenly crimson face showed that she understood that as well.

Yuna's look of calm incomprehension was familiar to both the other girls, what they were not expecting was what she said next. "Dryd'c hud vyen." It was hesitant but it was understandable.

"Sorry Yunie. Paine just wanted me to say this bit. Um..." She looked at Paine, hoping in vain for help. Paine just looked back at her calmly, patience etched into her features. Giving up, Rikku sighed and continued; "I... kinda listened to a lot of what you were doing... almost all of it I think..."

Yuna was about to interrupt, but Rikku's expression told her there was more.

"While I was listening... I... Um..." Despite everything, she looked to Paine again, praying silently for a change of heart from the icy warrior. Predictably, she was stared into continuing. "I was sycdinpydehk." She mentally slapped herself for lapsing, and tried to find the courage to tell Yuna in words she would understand. "Sorry Yunie... It means... 'masturbating'. She folded her arms around herself and suddenly her entire body was clearly showing the worry in her mind.

Yuna didn't know what surprised her most; what Rikku'd said, or the fact that she wasn't all that phased by it. "Rikku, why were you doing that if the idea bothered you so much?"

"I never said it bothe..."

She was interrupted by Paine's incredulous "Hmmph"

"Bothered me." She continued, trying to ignore the slightly hurt look on Paine's face. "It was just so sudden, and I didn't have time to think about it."

"You didn't have time?" this time Paine didn't limit herself to a sound, "Rikku, I didn't even mention the word sex and you freaked. You ran away so fast the door could barely open fast enough." The other girls didn't often see Paine exhibit any emotion deeper than anger. To see the depth Rikku's rejection had reached was a shock. Yuna placed her arm around Paine's shoulders, and for once, it wasn't shrugged off. Rikku was still feeling a little awkward about the whole thing, but she could tell that her friend was upset, and ignored her own insecurities, sitting down next to the others, and opened her arms to Paine; "You need a hug."

"Rikku, I..."

Rikku wasn't taking 'no' for an answer, and decided that what the situation needed was a little Rikku-brand humour; "Yesterday you wanted to vilg me, but now you won't even give me a hug? Fine, I'll just have to give you one." She wrapped both arms around Paine's torso, pinning her arms to her sides, and trapping Yuna. No matter how much Paine struggled and complained, she didn't let go until Yuna pointed out that her arm was getting numb.

Rikku was happy to see that, even through the attempt at looking annoyed, Paine was clearly happy.

Paine knew she wasn't very good at making friends and, annoying as she could be, Rikku was one of the best she had. It was a huge relief that they were all still friends; she could imagine what might have happened. If Yuna had had to choose between them, Paine was certain one night of, admittedly pretty damn good, sex wouldn't stand a chance against two years of friendship, and a shared pilgrimage. Throw in the fact that Rikku and Yuna were cousins, and Paine wouldn't even have bothered waiting to find out. Fortunately, it hadn't come down to that.

While Yuna had watched Rikku trying to crush Paine, and almost loosing all the feeling in her arm, she'd been thinking about the rest of the Gullwings, and how they might react to the idea of her and Paine having a relationship. It wasn't that there was one, and Yuna wasn't sure she could; but there was definitely something.

Now, while the topic was in use, seemed the best time to bring it up; "Rikku, how do you think Brother would react to this?"

Paine and Rikku shared a glance; most of the crew knew about Brother's obsession with Yuna, but they'd never actually figured out if Yuna had noticed. It was very obvious, but it was amazing what people missed. "I dunno Yunie. I mean, he freaks out over the tiniest things, but some things just pass right by him. Buddy'll probably just accept it; and Shinra's not interested in anything that doesn't involve machina..." The pause was just long enough to be noticeable, and both Paine's and Yuna's expression changed. Yuna blushed a little, and Paine smirked. "Anyway, Brother might do anything."

Paine looked at Yuna's face, and saw the flush in her cheeks. Smirking slightly more, she asked the obvious question. "So, are we going to tell them? And if so; what are we going to tell them?"

Yuna was, as usual, the one making the decision. Officially, Brother was the Gullwing's leader, but he never made the important decisions; always looking to Yuna for advice. "We probably shouldn't tell Brother just yet, Shinra won't care even if we tell him, but Buddy might be able to help."

Paine almost laughed. "Yuna, how could he help? In case you forgot, guys aren't really..."

"I meant that he could help find out how Brother might deal with it, or not deal with it, which ever." Paine nodded, conceding, and Rikku nodded, glad that she wasn't going to be the only one keeping Brother away from Paine and Yuna when they wanted some 'alone time'. She also found herself feeling happier about it than she expected too. 'It's been too long since Yunie's been this happy.' She thought. Knowing as she did so, that there was more to it than that.

Yuna stood up and switched to her Gunner sphere saying, "Let's go find Buddy." The other two followed her example, feeling more comfortable in their usual attire.

Paine was first to leave, just so she could check the corridor. Rikku found herself looking more carefully at Paine's outfit, admiring how Paine could wear something so closefitting, with so many slits, but no one seemed to notice. As she followed Yuna out of Paine's room, she realized she was subconsciously keeping to where she could see past Yuna, her eyes frequently swinging back to Paine.

_I know I forgot to translate the Al Bhed bits in previous chapters, and I'll go back and do that at some point, but they're not actually important. These are, kind of._

_Al Bhed bits not in Italics, Italics not in Al Bhed bits._

_Paine: "_And you haven't explained why your dress was soaked in cum_."_

_Yuna: "_That's not fair_."_

_Rikku: "wanted to..._fuck_...me."_

_Hope you enjoyed it. I really do enjoy hearing about it (hint hint) and for those of you less able to interprit such subtleties. I want Reviews Damn it! Please, just on tiny review:) I'll be your friend... and that means I'll keep posting it._

_PS, if you're embarrassed about reading this kind of fanfic, don't be. Think about it, the only people who'll know you reviewed will be other people who read it._


	7. Secrecy

_It's me. I'm back! And so; after a long period of absence for which I apologise sincerely; is Fahrenheit in Celsius._

_This chapter, I hope you'll be glad to hear, is quite a long one. And as my friend xiao32615987 said; I'm like a puppy when it comes to praise; review or I'll have to put a Big Sad Puppy Dog Face up as my next post. See how you like that!_

_If Sydney Clock is still reading, I would like to ask a simple question; do Yuna and Paine need to vilg the cred out of each other before you review again?_

_anyway, enough of that, back to the story, YAY!! _

* * *

It didn't take the three of them long to get to Buddy's room. Paine had suggested trying here first rather than the bridge, even though Buddy seemed to spend all of his time there. There was something bugging her about the idea, but she wanted more time to think about it before mentioning it to the others.

Rikku rapped her knuckles politely on the door, then put her ear to the door in an unnecessarily theatrical manner. After almost half a minute of that, Paine gave up. Pushing Rikku gently out of the way, she drew her leg up, and planted a heavy kick on the steel door. She really wasn't too bothered about denting it, the doors were extremely strong, no matter how much force she put into a kick, there never seemed to be more than a tiny indentation in the metal, and even then only where her heel impacted.

Knowing that Buddy wouldn't open the door, Paine looked back to Yuna and Rikku, who were both smiling at her ever-so-direct approach to get people's attention. "What exactly are we going to say to him then? It's not exactly a normal conversation topic. How do you start that kind of conversation?"

The other two girls shrugged, and looked at each other, then back to Paine. "I don't think it would be fair to expect Rikku to say anything," Yuna began, pretending not to notice the look of relief that flashed across her cousin's face, "It's basically just about us Paine."

"Look, I'll tell him…" Paine replied, annoyed at the nagging feeling in her mind as much as their avoiding the question, "but first we need to figure out exactly what it is I'm going to say. Do you actually want me to just walk up to him and put it out there face up?"

"It might be easier…" Rikku started.

"For you yes." Paine interrupted, secretly enjoying Rikku's disorientation and embarrassment at the implication.

"I mean you should get it over with," Rikku retorted, not wanting to lose face, "You might even shock him so much that he won't realise until we've got the information we want."

Paine was impressed, that was a pretty devious thought for such a bubbly mind; then she did something even rarer than smiling; "that's plus 3 Rikku."

Rikku looked a bit puzzled, but then realization dawned; "Respect points? I got some back?"

Paine nodded; "I hope you've been keeping track, if you ask how many you've got, I'll have to take five off."

"Before or after you tell me?"

"Who said I was going to tell you?" Paine enjoyed the way Rikku sagged down, and found that it was just as much fun to watch her get over it and bounce back up again.

Since Buddy hadn't already opened the door, they decided that he wasn't going to; Rikku, seemingly needing to find a release for some of her limitless energy, pointed this out. "Well, he's not here. Wanna try the bridge?"

"I guess so." Yuna followed her cousins bouncing form running down the corridor, and Paine strode calmly after them, calling up; "If you want to tell him that's fine with me."

She caught up to them in the elevator, "Don't worry Paine, we wouldn't take that away from you." Rikku grinned. "We know how much you hate it when people do stuff for you… But I guess _to_ you is a different matter." She looked meaningfully at Yuna, who blushed as always. Yuna always wondered why they teased her about being shy, but she guessed it was fair. They all teased each other about things like that. Except Paine, neither she or Rikku teased Paine very often.

"Let's just go up shall we?" She reached between her friends, trying to make it look casual as she, she assumed discreetly, brushed her hand against Paine's firm stomach. After pressing the button for the bridge, she tried to avoid blushing as she noticed the way Rikku winked at Paine.

They spent the short ride to the bridge in silence. Yuna only spoke up again as Paine stepped out of the elevator, "Good luck…" Even as she said it, she wondered why she had. Ignoring Paine's dismissive 'Why would I need it?' she searched her mind for that exact reason. Unknowingly, she found her subconscious telling her the same thing Paine's had told her. Even so, she couldn't figure it out.

She felt Rikku tug her arm, and followed her onto the bridge "You don't want Paine to tell him by herself do you, Yunie? That's not a very girlfriendy thing to do is it?"

Yuna blushed once more at the first use of the word, as much that Rikku said it first as anything. Her embarrassment was forgotten as she reached the stairs and saw that all four chairs were unoccupied. The only person on the bridge, was an annoyed looking Paine, who stood; arms crossed, right hand cupping her chin, staring at Buddy's chair, as if by sheer force of will she could make him appear.

She looked so intense that for a second Yuna almost thought it might work.

Rikku stayed on the raised platform, watching as Yuna walked quickly down the stairs to her girlfriend, and so was the first to hear the footsteps coming from the elevator a minute after their arrival. She was surprised that she hadn't heard it leave or reopen, but what surprised her more was when the voice accompanying the footsteps said; "What's everyone doing up here so early?"

Rikku spun round with a squeak; which both startled Buddy, and alerted the other two to his presence. "Oh…Buddy, hi. We were um… Early? Whaddaya mean early? It's not that early…is it?" Rikku hoped desperately that her babbling wouldn't be too obvious, and that he'd just answer the question and leave her alone. Typically, neither of her hopes were fulfilled.

"Rikku, not even Paine is usually up at this time, and she usually has to wake you up. What could possibly have you three all out of bed at Six Fifteen?" He switched his gaze to Paine and Yuna lower down; "Does she normally babble like that when she wakes up? Or did I just scare her more than I thought?"

"She's always like that."

"Oh. Alright then." Buddy headed down to his console, and leant against the back of his seat; lifting his goggles out of his pocket, and strapping them across his forehead. "So, I'm guessing it was you girls that woke me up." The confused looks from Rikku and Yuna prompted him to continue, "Or Paine at least. No-one else on this ship knocks like that."

"So you do actually sleep then?" Paine's calm demeanour was impressive. It was like there was nothing abnormal about them being on the bridge before anyone was normally awake; it was even as though they weren't about to tell him about their 'activities' earlier.

"Occasionally. Even I need to recharge sometimes."

"So, how do you stay awake for such ridiculous periods of time? You don't drink coffee, and you'd be jittery if you took pills. Spill it." Paine maintained her composure and reputation among the people who knew her by drinking enough coffee each morning to keep her awake until late. She was sure it wasn't a good idea, but didn't care.

"It's not that hard really, I just keep myself occupied, and exercise vigorously."

Paine grunted and shook her head, turning away, "You expect me to believe you?"

Slowly, a grin spreading across her features, she turned back to look at him. It was a childish tactic, but it might just work. It might also get her off the hook about the other thing. "If you tell me your secret; I'll tell you mine."

Buddy looked interested, he crossed his arms, and leant back. "So that's why you came down here is it? You wanted to tell me something, but now that you can get something out of it you're gonna give it a shot, huh? Fair enough. It's a deal. You go first."

"Why should I?" Yuna and Rikku were watching this with a mixture of amusement and worry. Yuna was more worried than amused, the feeling that something was wrong had increased markedly since Buddy and Paine had started bargaining like this.

"You're going first because you were going to tell me yours anyway. Don't deny it I know you were."

"I'm not denying it, but everything's changed now. You should go first for the same reason. You can trust me to tell you mine afterwards, but I have no guarantee that you'll tell me yours." Paine's logic, and utter lack of trust won out over Buddy's attempt.

"Alright fine, I'll tell you." Buddy looked a bit put out by his defeat, but he knew he could never beat Paine on something like this. "It's probably not as exciting as you might think, and you have to swear on your sword that you'll tell me yours afterwards."

"Deal." Buddy obviously thought he had her with that, but her sword was now no longer the most important thing in Paine's life. "How do you do it?"

Buddy grinned, and looking at Rikku and Yuna said, "This is between me and Paine, so if you two could wait by the elevator, that'd help."

The two cousins looked at Paine, who shrugged. Nodding in acceptance, they turned and headed off to wait out of earshot.

After watching them leave, Buddy and Paine turned to each other, and she gestured for him to speak. He smiled slightly, and began; "Trust me, it's nothing exciting; you know how noisy the elevator door is? Well, basically, I'm a very light sleeper, so sometimes when we're on autopilot, which happens quite a lot really, and there's no one else in here; I sleep in my chair. Why d'you think it reclines so much?" To emphasise his point, he slid into the chair and lay back, hands behind his head, legs stretched out.

Paine looked at him in surprise; "Is that it? You sleep lightly enough to get woken up by the elevator?"

"Yup, told you it wasn't going to be exciting."

He waited a moment, while she shook her head in disbelief. Then raised his head, and spread his hands; "Alright, your turn. What was so important you got Rikku out of bed before midday?"

Paine shook the disbelief from her mind; gazing calmly at the Al Bhed, who grinned back at her from his, really very bedlike, chair. Feeling that odd worry creeping back again. Not letting on about her discomfort, however, she simply shrugged and said; "I'm not sure your secret's good enough to be worth traded for my biggest secret, but a deal's a deal. You get a secret, then we stop acting childish and keep our secrets secret."

Buddy looked a bit disappointed, but decided not to push it. If Paine had decided that she didn't want to tell him it, any amount of attempted persuasion would be more likely to result in pain than divulgence. "Fine, what is it?"

She leaned in closer, supporting herself on the arm of his chair; she whispered, pretending it was more important, "My sword's not the most important thing in my life anymore."

* * *

_Okay, well, with this updated version, which I hope you all enjoy more than the origional, you all have a reason to review, if only to give me a verbal slapping for putting you through the frist incarnation, or to say that you preferred the Atom-bomb subtlety (thank you xiao32615987) of Buddy's origional explanaition._


	8. Emotions

_Another chapter, back to the style that deserves it's rating. I had planned an ultimatum of sorts, but I can't be bothered to go through with it. In chapter 1 I'm fairly sure I remember saying I don' care, and it's true. I'm writing this for me first, and you lot second._

Rikku and Yuna had barely started discussing what they thought Buddy's secret might be, when Paine walked down the passageway and into the elevator, gesturing to the others to follow her. As the doors slid shut, the two cousins looked at her expectantly.

"What?"

Rikku, as always, was the one to put the words to the question, "So how does he do it then?"

Paine glared at her for a moment, and when Rikku clearly didn't get the implied reprimand, Paine provided a verbal one. "Rikku, If I told you Buddy's secret, he would tell the other boys mine."

"Only if he found out you'd told us." Rikku protested, and was only just saved from a lecture about honouring your word by Yuna.

"Your secret? Don't you mean our secret?" The curious gaze came back to her and Rikku's faces, and Rikku added her own input, eloquent as always;

"Yeah?"

"I didn't tell him about the sex thing." Paine told them calmly, reaching out and pressing the button for their sleeping quarters.

"Why didn't you tell him? That was the whole point of coming up here, so that he could help keeping Brother away while we're hav… do… you know…"

Paine sighed, suppressing the urge to mock Yuna's embarrassment about such a simple word, especially after she'd displayed such a vivid imagination earlier. "I know that. I just had a weird feeling about telling him. I don't know what it was, but something told me it was a bad idea, and I usually trust my instincts."

Yuna nodded just as the door opened. "I guess that's fair, to be honest I think I was having second thoughts about it too."

"About what?" Brother's blunt tones interrupted their conversation, and he was just as abruptly thrown out of it by Rikku's best indignant sister voice as the three exited the elevator;

"None of your business bub! It's 'Girl Talk'. Keep your big nose out." She emphasised the order with an, unfortunately ineffective, push.

Brother muttered something under his breath "_Ruf lusa_ Paine _kadc di zueh eh 'Kenm Dymg'_?" Clearly forgetting that Paine could understand him. His forgetfulness earned him a foot in the back of the knee, and a firm hand gripping his Mohawk. As he knelt there with his head pulled back, painfully aware that too much more force could result in either hair loss or dislocation; Paine's voice, terrifyingly close and level whispered in his ear, "_Fryd tet oui zicd cyo_?

Brother swallowed heavily, "Nothing?"

"That's what I thought." Paine released his hair, and raised her foot from his knee, placing it on his backside, and shoved him into the elevator.

Turning back to her friends, her normal demeanour back in place, she strode ahead of them. Yuna looked at Rikku, who was visibly worried by Paine's display. Shockingly brutal, even for her. "What _did_ he say?"

Rikku, tore her eyes away from the elevator door, and leant in to Yuna's ear, repeating her brother's comment at a whisper; "He asked how come Paine got to join in 'Girl Talk'?" Yuna's mouth dropped open.

"When did he get a death wish?"

Rikku shrugged, and replied; "I want to know when he got a spine." her bubbliness reasserting itself as she added this incident to the already significant list of things that Brother's big mouth had gotten him into.

Shaking her head, she moved off after Paine, Yuna following with occasional glances back down to the Elevator door.

She caught up with the other two outside Rikku's door. As usual, Rikku was pushing her luck, trying to find out Buddy's secret, and getting closer and closer to losing respect points.

"C'mon Paine, please? What'd he say?"

"Rikku, if you don't stop asking me that, I'm going to hurt you so much that what I did to Brother's going to look like throwing a feather!"

Rikku pouted, but gave up. Or rather, put her inquiries on hold for a while. Yuna, on the other hand, had a sensible question. "Since it's barely dawn, and so far there's no news of any spheres today, why don't we go back to bed and get some proper sleep?"

Rikku realised just how tired she was, "I should still be in bed anyway. See you in a couple of hours girls." She opened the door, and slipped through, waving over her shoulder, and locking the door as soon as it was fully closed.

Yunie wouldn't have suggested sleeping if she was actually planning to do any, and this time Rikku was not going to interrupt. Of course she felt a bit left out that she couldn't share in Yunie's new favourite activity, but it didn't bother her. Feeling pleased with herself, and happy for her friends, Rikku yawned and flopped down on to her bed, falling asleep almost as soon as her head stopped bouncing.

Outside, Paine glanced down at the lock after it clicked shut, then back up at Yuna, "I know she's your cousin, but saying we should be back to bed might have been a mistake. Do you know how long she'll sleep for now? Because I have no idea."

"Don't you ever have any desire to just stay in bed in the morning?" Yuna headed towards her own room.

Paine followed, though her room was in the opposite direction. "Not really, no."

Yuna stopped outside her door, and turned slowly, glancing back meaningfully.

Paine, who had no trouble deciphering body language, quickly amended her answer; "I don't like lying in bed alone if I'm already awake."

Yuna opened the door, but didn't go through, instead glancing up and down the corridor. Paine, from whom it was normally impossible to hide secret agendas, finally caught on to what Yuna was talking about. "You never intended to go to sleep did you?"

Yuna looked into her friend's beautifully crimson eyes, wondering how it could have taken so long to unlock this side of herself, "No, not yet anyway."

Paine moved closer, raising her gloved right hand to Yuna's cheek, and pulling Yuna's hips into her own with her left.

Their lips met as Paine pushing Yuna gently into the room, quickly giving way to tongues as the door slid shut, and Yuna dropped her left hand from Paine's shoulder to lock it. Paine stroked her hand down Yuna's neck, and over her shoulder, catching under the shoulder of Yuna's top. Reaching round to the back of Yuna's neck, she allowed the pink hood to drop to the floor.

Pulling out of the kiss slowly, Paine gazed into her friends…no, her lover's eyes, and smiled. "Ready to start the story?"

Yuna looked puzzled for a moment, before she remembered. "I thought we _had_ started?" she smiled, and slid her hands up Paine's torso, under the armour, and onto her nearly bare shoulders.

Paine smirked, Yuna always made it so easy; "Please, we've barely started the introduction. Chapter one; making Yuna blush." Paine pulled the string holding Yuna's top around her neck, it unravelled and fell away from her breasts, revealing them completely. Despite Yuna's best efforts, Paine's action had the desired effect, and her face flushed pink. "Close enough." Paine whispered as she placed her lips on Yuna's shoulder, kissing down to the centre of her chest, and flicking her tongue against the skin.

Yuna's hands fell to her sides, taking Paine's shoulder wrap with them. Neither girl paid too much attention to that, Paine's kisses moving gently up and down the inside of Yuna's cleavage, while she moved the two of them closer to the bed. Before Yuna hit the mattress, Paine caught her round the waist, leaving her suspended, head thrown back, arms loose. Now the remaining material of her top was removed, and Paine's lips moved down, away from her exposed breasts. Tracing a long snaking line down, and occasionally flicking out her tongue, until her mouth reached the waistband of Yuna's shorts. Rather than remove them however, she just kissed the skin below Yuna's navel, and let her fall onto the bed.

Crawling astride her, Paine rubbed her hands up Yuna's stomach, then up, and over her soft breasts. As her gloved palms slid over the nipples, Paine felt them stiffen, and decided it was about time they got some real attention. She left her hands there, slowly rolling the firm nubs into the surrounding skin, and drawing a soft sigh from Yuna.

Though barely seconds had passed, Yuna had already lost all sense of time, and she gasped when Paine's lips made contact with the sensitive skin, her tongue repeatedly flicking out to brush against her left nipple, while her right continued to experience Paine's exploratory manipulations. Her palm had moved away to cup the soft surrounding flesh, while her thumb remained on the firm tip, pushing against it in synchrony with her tongue.

Yuna's hands went to Paine's hair, stroking down to her neck, and back up again, holding her in place. She barely noticed when Paine shifted her body to the side, and crept her hand down Yuna's body, until it rubbed against her through the stiff material of her shorts. Her hips jerked off the bed surface, and she moaned in anticipation of the pleasure to come. She sighed when Paine's tongue dragged across her chest, flicking her other nipple as it broke contact.

Yuna opened her eyes, not even remembering she'd closed them, and looked to Paine curiously.

"Can you see something wrong with this scene Yuna?" Paine stood at the side of the bed, one hand on her hip, the other outspread to accompany the question.

Yuna smiled. Shuffling to the end of the bed, she reached out, and took Paine's hand, kissing the material. She moved up the arm, to Paine's shoulder, where the deep crimson strap was pulled away, though the rest remained in place, held up by the black band across Paine's chests, against which the hard points of her nipples strained for release. Yuna, grabbed the top, and pulled it slowly down, kissing the rose pink nipples as they were uncovered. She let her kiss drag down under the softness of Paine's pert breast, and further until she came to the belts across her stomach. It was the work of moments before each one fell to the floor. The black ring was pulled down past Paine's hips, dragging her shorts down a little in the process.

The crimson band Yuna had moved now hung down to the floor, while the other was still taut across her breast, though with nothing to keep it in place, the slight sheen of sweat on Paine's pale skin was making it slip away, until it too hung loose at her side.

Both girls were now in equal states of undress, and the distraction of removing Paine's complex garment had caused their passions to rise. They wrapped their arms around each other, luxuriating in the feel of their skin in direct contact as their lips met once again, parting to allow their tongues entry. Paine removed her gloves behind Yuna's back, before stroking her hands down it, and cupping her firm buttocks.

Yuna replied in kind, and the two remained locked in their close embrace for some minutes hips pressing together, desperate for yet more intimacy. Paine took the initiative, as usual. Without, breaking their kiss, she moved one hand to hold Yuna's head close, while the other unclipped the long layered half-wrap around her waist, letting the blue material fall to the floor, before slipping her hand inside Yuna's shorts, and squeezing the bare skin within.

Slowly, she pulled out of the kiss; "Do you ever wear anything underneath?"

"Do you want me to?" Yuna smiled as though it was a perfectly innocent question.

"Now that's a stupid question. If I had what I wanted, there wouldn't be anything for you to wear it under." Paine smiled, and pushed Yuna back, making her fall onto the bed, enjoying Yuna's facial reaction as much as it's effect on her body.

"Since I can't have what I want _all _the time, let's not waste any more time when I can." She quickly unlaced Yuna's boots, and threw them away before pulling her own off, and snapping off he clips to release her leggings.

Now neither girl was wearing anything but a pair of shorts, though Paine's were discarded as quickly as the leggings, leaving her utterly naked, and in a hurry to get Yuna the same way.

She grabbed the waist of Yuna's blue shorts, hurriedly unbuttoning the front, and dragging them, and Yuna almost off the bed. Yuna gasped, and started laughing, while she helped Paine pull them off her.

Once there were finally no barriers between their skins, the girls climbed into each others arms once again, entwining themselves in a tangle of limbs, Paine pressing her thigh into Yuna's soft, moist centre. As they hugged each other tightly, Yuna began to rock her hips back and forth, pleasuring herself against Paine's firm muscles, and nudging her own leg between Paine's to share what she was feeling. They lay together for a long moment, each one pressing down onto the other's thigh, feeling it gradually become slick with their juices, and allowing their pleasure to build as they held each other, resting their foreheads together, gazing into one another's eyes.

Yuna moaned as her clitoris made contact with Paine's skin, and closed her eyes, pressing down harder to keep the super sensitive nub rubbing against her lover. The intense stimulation was soon enough to bring her close to the edge of an orgasm. Sensing this, Paine rolled Yuna onto her back, and began to push hard against her friend's smooth lips, which spread wide, and the extreme pleasure of total contact pushed Yuna over. Her breathing quickened, and she moaned out long and loud, while her body was wracked with spasms of ecstasy. Paine didn't let her recover quickly however, keeping up the pressure on her lover's core and triggering and aftershock, which shook Yuna's body, causing her breathing to become shallow.

Paine finally relented, and lay next to her love, resting her head against Yuna's shoulder, and closing her eyes as she slid her fingers inside herself, stroking herself. She felt herself coming close to the brink, when Yuna opened her eyes. "I'm not going to fall asleep and leave you alone twice." She kissed Paine quickly, then moved down her body, licking at the wet area of Paine's thigh, before sliding her tongue towards her soft lips. She took Paine's hand in hers, and licked her fingers clean before replacing them in Paine's moist vagina. She kissed her, while trying to remember what Paine had done for her the first time. Extending her tongue, she held it firm, and dragged it up between the soft outer lips, drawing a moan from Paine. "Ohh! Deeper, Yuna."

Yuna was more than happy to comply. The taste of Paine's arousal on her tongue was all the encouragement she needed to continue. She pressed in, her nose rubbing briefly against Paine's extended clitoris. This time Paine's moan was louder. Yuna moved her tongue inside her lover, bringing it up until it almost dragged out, rubbing hard against her core. She slid it back in, and experimented by rotating it as much as she could. Paine's reaction was unmistakable. Yuna repeated the pattern until Paine started breathing heavily and the flow increased as she grabbed Yuna's hair, and held her in place. Yuna took as much of the sweet tasting liquid into her mouth as she could, and when Paine released her, her orgasm ebbing, she crawled up to her friend and lover, and pressed her lips onto Paine's; sharing with her the taste they both now knew well.

Their bodies were warm from their exertions, but Paine pulled the sheet over them anyway as they curled together, bodies entwined again. Somehow it made it more personal, more intimate. Paine's smile never left her face as she drifted off slowly, the day's energy seemingly used up already.

_Future chapters (which will now be happening) WILL involve more Rikku goodness._

_I hate ultimatums, and am bitchslapping myself for putting one up. Sorry. Bear in mind however, that this story will not be updated with anything approaching efficiency, or even timings, or speed. It's a sort of hit and miss dealwhether I feel like writing it, but It will be updated at some point._


	9. Consideration

_Wow, okay last update was 2007. Yet people still want me to continue. I've had more requests to start writing this again than I've had other reviews for everything else I think. Probably about time I did then._

_Sorry it's been so very very very very very long since I did this, but I've figured out what I was doing wrong, and I wrote two new chapters worth over the past week, so as soon as I've finished typing it up, you can have chapter 10. Yay. Maybe 11 will be soon as well, depends if I write this or switch to something else for a bit. Either way, I doubt it'll be another 2 years. Fortunately, I'm damn happy with how these truned out, let me know if it's as good as you hoped._

* * *

A familiar sound filled Yuna's ears as she awoke. It took some time before she realised that for the second time today, someone was knocking energetically on her bedroom door. She shuffled out of her bed, disentangling herself from the covers; wondering why they felt so heavy. Whoever was outside was still banging away, clearly not caring that they had just disturbed her from an amazing dream.

"I'm coming. Hang on."

Finally the noise stopped as she drifted over to the door switch. Though the mist of sleep still hung heavily over her, she managed to keep her eyes open as the door slid into the wall.

"Hey Rikku, what's up?" She smiled at her cousin, realising that, however good the dream had been, if Rikku was up, it was probably mid-afternoon already.

"Not Paine," Rikku responded after, for some reason, closing her eyes. "And now I remember why."

"Huh? Paine's not up yet? How come?"

Rikku didn't respond, other than to point down. Yuna glanced at the floor, then looked back up at Rikku, who had now placed a hand across her eyes.

Slowly, Yuna's face began to glow crimson as last night's activities came back to her. All her drowsiness was washed away in a flood of embarrassment and she tried to cover herself up with her arms.

"Rikku, Why didn't you warn me?" Her voice was higher than usual, and her words came tumbling out in an almost indiscernible rush.

"It's just me Yunie, I wouldn't have let the boys come with me to wake you up."

Yuna hurriedly grabbed a dressing gown, and threw it on. Swiftly tying the belt around her waist. Normally she would have enjoyed the feel of the silk, but she was still too embarrassed about Rikku's presence to pay much attention to anything else.

Once she was finally decent, Yuna calmed down remarkably quickly, and her mind started to address the other aspects of her situation. One of the most prominent of these was undoubtedly Paine. Even as Yuna thought about her, she tried to forget it. 'Keep Rikku's attention away from the bed.' she told herself. But still she couldn't stop her eyes from flicking across the room. To her relief, she saw that Paine was still mostly covered up, despite her earlier sleepy struggle against the sheets. Rikku's eyes followed Yuna's, but even she managed not to stare. She just smiled. It was an odd expression, especially for Rikku. It was quietly triumphant, but at the same time, appreciative. Normally Rikku could only manage two kinds of Triumphant. Smug and… No, just smug.

Rikku's jubilations aside, Yuna knew she had to forestall Rikku's inevitable tirade of questions. At least create a delay until she was capable of dealing with them.

"So what's up Rikku?" Yuna desperately hoped that repeating the initial question would somehow reset the conversation.

Fortunately, it did. Rikku's attention snapped back to focus on the message she'd brought. "Oh yeah! Buddy got a message from Besaid. Lulu wants us all to go visit."

"Lulu doesn't normally ask for visits. Why d'you think she wants to see us all so suddenly?" They both thought for a moment, Rikku rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet as she tried to figure it out. Her eyes wandered around the room, coming to rest momentarily on Paine, who was still sleeping (or at least, pretending to). She couldn't keep a mischievous grin from her face as she thought about all the stuff her friends had been doing this morning…

"The Baby!" Rikku almost shouted out as it hit her. "Lulu must've had the baby!"

*

It was amazing, the way people changed in the presence of a baby. Fair enough, Paine thought, Rikku was the same as always, but Yuna's normally sensible demeanour had been cast aside in favour of Rikku-level excitement as soon as they'd entered Lulu and Wakka's home and seen her former guardian sitting with the child in her arms.

Buddy and Shinra had almost physically restrained Brother until he agreed to 'help' them with the blatantly fictitious technical reasons they had come up with to wait behind on the Celsius for a while in order to give Yuna and Rikku a chance to catch up with the new parents. Paine almost wished she could have stayed behind as well and avoided the initial gushing baby-based compliments, but she hadn't been able to focus enough to come up with a plausible reason. Instead she took the opportunity to observe a side of her friends she hadn't seen before. Other than that, with both of them focusing all their attention onto Vidina, she could take some time to think about the past twenty four hours.

A weight settled next to where she sat with her head resting on her interlaced fingers. Her gaze didn't leave the floor, the intruder was too carefully to be Rikku, Wakka was still down at the beach, and she could still her Yuna spouting baby-talk gibberish on the other side of the room. Lulu's voice confirmed her deduction.

"Pardon the interruption, but my duties as hostess oblige me to make certain you're alright."

"I'm fine, just thinking."

"Would I be presume too much to ask what about?" Paine had thought that her first response had been enough to dissuade any further enquiries; apparently not.

"Something private." She said, probably coming off a little more forcefully than she'd intended to. It wouldn't have been the first time.

"Very well, I shall leave you with your thoughts, but should you wish to share them, my mind is more open than my heart." This made Paine finally look at the mage's face, as immaculately made-up as it had been on the Gullwing's last visit, and apparently, Yuna's entire Pilgrimage. Paine appreciated the discipline that must have required, but if she always spoke in such an unusual manner, spending too long around her would have been frustrating, however beautiful she might make herself look. She raised an eyebrow to silently ask for an explanation.

Lulu chuckled "I don't open up much, but when people open up to me, I don't pass rash judgements."

Paine nodded and turned away, her gaze falling on Yuna once more. "Thanks, but I doubt telling you about it would help."

"It might help more than you think. You won't know unless you try." Paine revised her earlier opinion, every conversation with Lulu was like a verbal sparring match and it was almost as much fun as a physical one, though she didn't expect Lulu would find them quite so exhilarating.

"True, but it might also make it worse. I don't know that either. Telling you could shift it either way."

Lulu smiled like a debater graciously conceding to a skilled opponent and Paine couldn't help but grin a little herself as she caught the expression out of the corner of her eye. "I can see I'm not going to convince you to talk to me, so I hope you'll at least talk to Yuna."

Paine's head jerked around, guilt and surprise written across her features before she got her expression under control. She cursed herself as Lulu laughed.

"You've been looking over at her about once a minute since you sat down."

Paine surrendered. "Fine, if it'll stop you from trying to read my mind. I'll talk to Yuna." She didn't get up immediately, Lulu was looking self-satisfied enough, but eventually she stood and walked over to Yuna.

"Yuna, I need to talk to you, it's kind of important." She whispered, noticing that in spite of all the attention, Vidina had fallen asleep in Yuna's arms.

Yuna turned and nodded. She carefully passed Vidina back to his mother, and excused herself. Paine and Yuna's departure left Rikku alone with Lulu and the baby. Lulu set Vidina down in his cot and beckoned Rikku through to the next room, where she sat on the bed which dominated the centre of the room. Rikku lingered for a moment at Lulu's elegantly designed side table, marvelling at the delicate brushes and paints laid out on its surface before joining Lulu on the soft bed. "Either Paine has done a better job of curbing your curiosity than I ever did, or you already know what she and Yuna are discussing." Rikku fidgeted for a moment, but didn't say a word.

"I thought so," Lulu continued, barely skipping a beat. "How angry would she be if you told me?"

"Lulu!" Rikku stared at her in, almost, mock surprise. "After all the times you yelled at me for snooping..."

"Thank angry? Interesting." Lulu smirked as she interrupted.

Rikku shut her mouth firmly, and fixed Lulu with what she hoped was a look of righteous indignation. "I don't know what you mean."

Lulu just smiled at her. "Rikku, you're worse at keeping secrets than Wakka, but unlike him you know it. If you're trying this hard not to tell me, you must have a very good reason."

"Lulu..." Rikku moaned. "Don't do that; it's creepy the way you always know so much. It's like you're spying on us... And stop smirking like that!"

*

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, or is that a silly question?" Yuna looked into her friend's troubled face and decided that trying to lighten the mood wasn't going to work.

"Silly question. Is there anywhere more private we can go? I feel exposed here." Paine looked around at the small village square in front of the old temple, there weren't that many people around, but that also meant that any one of them would be more likely to hear more than Paine wanted them to know.

"Sure, follow me." Yuna led Paine out through the Village's main gate and down a small path in the woods around it. They reached an area of open space a little larger than most and Yuna paused thoughtfully. In spite of the denseness of the trees, Paine could barely hear any animal life around them, even though there was no wind stirring the branches above them. The purity of the silence combined with the subtle patterns of light filtering through the treetops made Yuna's still form look like a beautiful three dimensional painting. The effect was broken when she looked up into the canopy and smiled. She turned to Paine and said, "I wasn't sure if it'd still be here, but I think the branch will still support me if I can get up there."

Paine followed the accompanying gesture and saw a bundle of material hanging from the tree about half-way up.

"How did you get it up there to begin with?" The tree had no climbable routes that she could see, its trunk was covered in moss, and the sack was tied onto one of the lowest branches, so there were none to climb on to reach it.

"I used to have a ladder Wakka made for me." Yuna pointed out a pile of short, regularly cut log sections at the base of the tree. Now that she'd explained what it was, the rope which had bound them together was still visible, though it was clearly in no condition to actually be used.

"Is it really that important if we get it down?" Paine couldn't help thinking that if the rope ladder had had time to rot away, whatever was in the bag probably hadn't fared much better.

"Not if you don't mind sitting in the dirt." Paine bit back a retort. Although the canopy above them was a vibrant green, the forest floor still showed evidence of the slowly decaying leaves of winter, which the humidity had made soft and damp.

"Alright, what's your plan?"

"Um..." Yuna started swaying softly from side to side with her finger on her lips, as she tended to when she was thinking. It was only just before Paine's patience evaporated completely that she clapped her hands together and almost shouted "Got it!"

"Yuna, What are you planning?" Paine's voice held a note of caution. Yuna was acting more like Rikku than usual recently, something had made her more impulsive and excitable. That didn't bode particularly well for her planning skills, and if Rikku's plans were anything to gauge by, Whatever Yuna had come up with, could quite easily get one or both of them hurt. Yuna was either not listening, or was trying to impress or surprise Paine, and had already triggered her Thief sphere. As her outfit shimmered and changed into the loose billowy and unnecessarily revealing Thief costume, she winked at Paine and started running towards the tree.

Her confidence was almost as annoying as her enthusiasm, and before Paine could do anything to stop her, Yuna had planted her foot at the base of the tree. In her mind, Yuna envisioned the enhanced agility the sphere gave her carrying her up the tree and into a graceful back-flip, following by a mid-air grab of the branch and a swing up and on, finishing crouched securely on the thick beam.

Her first step against the tree found purchase, and she pushed upwards. As her back foot left the ground, her front foot started slipping, and within the time it took for her to realise she wasn't going to make it, she hit the floor and had the air knocked from her lungs.

A moment later, Paine's face filled her vision, her concern almost masked by a look that told Yuna how much of a fool she looked. Paine helped her up and she noticed a glow fading from Paine's glove, leaving it a creamy brown as opposed to it's customary black. The long brown gloves matched the hard leather bodice of the dress that was Paine's Beastmaster attire. A moment later, as she held out the arm that wasn't supporting Yuna, A crimson and azure glow formed around the sphere at Paine's belt, and swirled up to her arm to form the hawk who acted as her companion.

Flurry stretched his muscles out as Paine admired, as she always did, the deadly beauty he possessed. His eyes focused on hers as he felt their minds connect, and he understood what she wanted him to do. He opened his wings and she launched him into the air. He flew straight up to where the sack hung and settled next to the knotted leather strip supporting it. With an intelligence that a natural hawk would never have shown, he quickly untied it and glided back to Paine's outstretched arm with the bundle clutched in his talons.

Paine passed the bag to Yuna, who was watching with a mixture of appreciation and embarrassment. "Your plan was better."

Paine decided not to comment. She thanked Flurry for his help, and returned him to the sphere along with the garments it created. "We've got the bag now, let's get the stuff inside sorted so we can sit down. We still need to talk."


	10. Clarity

_Okay, here it is at last. I got most of it done, but the last page eluded me for a while, sorry about that. What about the next chapter you ask? Read this one first for crying out loud... but, yeah, I have no idea when that'll be done, I'll do my best but that's all I can promise. Well, enjoy it while it lasts._

Lulu eventually rose from the soft bed and moved silently across the room to lean against the doorframe, subtly but definitively letting Rikku know that the conversation would end when Lulu wanted it to.

"Very well, Rikku; I can tell when even you're determined to keep a secret. If you'd rather talk about sand than Yuna and Paine it's clear that I won't be able to talk it out of you."

Rikku's relief was clearly visible. She'd been extremely close to surrendering the information. Lulu had an unbelievable wealth of extremely dull information, and seemed able to put as much enthusiasm into the utterly mind numbing topic of how sand was made out of rocks as she could when she was explaining some of the most exciting magical experiments she'd done when she was younger.

Much to Rikku's dismay, the latter topic; one of her favourite things to talk to Lulu about; had not come up, no matter how hard she'd tried to swerve the conversation in that direction. That Lulu had apparently run out of boring topics relieved Rikku so much that she physically relaxed as the tension of boredom left her body and lay back on the bed.

"I'll just have to try something else."

Lulu's calm announcement brought Rikku back up to here tension-rigid position, fists scrunching the sheets in her fear. Even after fighting off fiends of all sizes, helping to thwart evil ghosts and even traversing the Thunder Plains with Yunie over the course of her pilgrimage, Rikku had never felt more afraid than she did when Lulu got all intimidating and spooky. The wicked glint and the half grin on her pale face made her look so scary that Rikku could barely speak. She didn't think Lulu would actually torture her to find out, but that's not what Lulu's expression said.

"Wh...What are you gonna do?" The words tumbled out of Rikku's mouth, running together as a hundred unnecessarily extravagant tortures flooded through her mind. She stared at Lulu, waiting for the first movement to tell her what was coming. A moment later, the smirk curling Lulu's purple lips pulled them further as she grew more amused. Rikku frowned as confusion overtook her mostly irrational fear, followed gradually by horror as realisation of Lulu's sadistic plan dawned. Even so, she refused to accept the obvious truth immediately.

"Lulu, whatever you're going to do, just... just do it. I can't stand waiting. Anything would be better than you just... just standing there." She tried to keep the desperation out of her voice as she spoke the last three words, but the tremor she knew was there was followed by a flash of sadistic glee in Lulu's dark eyes.

It was enough to confirm for Rikku that her worst suspicions had been dead on. "Oh poopie." When Lulu didn't even nod, Rikku's shoulders sagged and she flopped sideways, leaving her arms and legs dangling over the edge of the bed. She tried repeatedly to get some kind of response from Lulu, barely bothering to look at the mage when she spoke. Lulu's expression barely flickered with each new question, even when Rikku's desperation drove her to beg for another lesson about sand.

Eventually and idea bloomed in Rikku beleaguered mind. It was her one hope, and she asked another group of inane questions before she tried it.

"All right Lulu," she said in her most defeated voice, "I'll tell you everything, but you have to promise to talk."

"Very well Rikku."

Rikku bounced up off the bed in triumph and pointed an exultant finger at Lulu's face, ignoring the only slightly surprised amusement of her expression. "Ah-hah! Now you have to talk. You lose Lulu."

Lulu's lips remained closed, a subtle grin tugging at one side.

Rikku dropped to the floor, with her legs folded beneath her and her arms at her side. Her head drooped forwards and she stared dejectedly at her knees. "You promised to talk after I told you didn't you?" She didn't even bother to look up as Lulu nodded.

Over the next five minutes, Rikku didn't speak a single word. She made plenty of noise as she shuffled around the room with her arms swing loosely in front of her. Eventually, though much sooner than Lulu had expected, Rikku's patience collapsed and she dropped back onto the bed for the third time, gripped her head tightly between her palms and let out an exasperated sigh. "I can't take it! You win, you big meanie." She took a deep breath and readied herself to, quite possibly, risk her life to end Lulu's silence.

"Paine is gay." She raised her gaze to meet Lulu's as she forced the damning syllables to take form. For a long moment, Lulu simply held her gaze, maintaining her still silence. In the end, the genuine intensity of Rikku's stare convinced her.

"You're serious." Rikku nodded, somehow more uncomfortable now than she'd been in the silence. A thoughtful expression crossed Lulu's face and she seemed to accept it as the truth. "So, why was she so focused on Yuna? Does she...?"

"Yep." Lulu felt a pang of guilt for forcing a conversation she wasn't sure Yuna was ready for, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Rikku however was looking so depressed at having broken her silence that Lulu walked over to her young friend and sat next to her, placing a comforting arm around her slim shoulders.

"Does Yuna know?" She asked as the young Al Bhed leant against her. Whether it was the contact or some memory, Lulu didn't know, but something put a little of the energy back into Rikku's voice.

"I'd be really surprised if she didn't. Really surprised."

"How so?" Rikku didn't speak. She just raised her head from Lulu's shoulder and stared straight into her eyes with a look that said everything.

"Oh." Lulu removed her arm from Rikku's shoulders and stood. She took a few steps away and then moved back with her arms half crossed and one hand tapping against her chin. Rikku had never seen Lulu look so worried. The revelation had affected her so much she was actually pacing. She halted next to her table and fixed her gaze on Rikku again, her normally flawless skin wrinkled in a concerned frown.

"Yuna? Really?"

"Yep."

"Is there a chance we're not talking about the same thing?"

Rikku almost laughed. Lulu, the cynical pragmatist was having almost as much trouble accepting this as Rikku had. Still, she managed to keep a mostly straight face when she answered. "I doubt it."

"Sex?" The tremor in Lulu's voice drove all the amusement from Rikku's mind. Lulu had never skirted around a subject so much, no matter how uncomfortable she or others might have been with it. Rikku guessed that it was trying to fit Yuna into the idea that was giving her trouble, rather than the idea itself. After all, as far as even Rikku knew, Yuna was still a virgin, or at least had been, 'does it still count without a...' she wondered, and almost asked Lulu out loud, but decided that discussing Yuna's virginity with her unofficially adopted big sister might not be a good idea.

As often happened however, Rikku's mouth and her brain had different ideas. By the time she'd decided that it wouldn't help, she was already nodding emphatically; a little too much, if Lulu's face was anything to go by. She couldn't even stop herself from blurting out the words "They're probably in the forest vil-mm mm...Hmm!"

A gesture from Lulu forced her jaws shut before she could complete the sentence. "Rikku, I will release the spell if you promise me two things." Lulu's sounded calm, but the severity of her expression told a different story.

"Mhmm; Mm-Hmhm" Rikku nodded urgently, the pressure holding her mouth closed was just shy of actually painful, but it certainly wasn't comfortable.

"First; you will not give me information I do not ask for if that information could put in my head images I would find distressing. Second; You will not use profanity, in any language, while you are in the same house as my child." Rikku nodded emphatically after each condition and mimed zipping up her lips. Lulu's face relaxed and a smile tugged at her lips as she snapped her fingers and the magical bonds keeping Rikku silent fell away.

"Sorry Lulu."

*

"Yuna, we need to talk about...this..."

Yuna's bag had contained a simple blanket big enough for both of them to sit on a comfortable distance apart. To Paine's surprise it was almost completely untouched by the passage of time, the bag which had held it appeared to have taken most of the effects of the changing seasons.

"You've said that already." Yuna's smile was infuriating, it was sympathetic, amused and apologetic all at once.

"I know I have; and you know I'm not good at this stuff." She waved a hand in an uncharacteristically vague gesture.

"I enjoyed it." The smile was still there and now somehow mirrored Rikku's mischievous smirk without any of the Al Bhed's smugness.

"Damn it Yuna, you're as bad as Rikku! Can't you take this seriously, please?" Yuna's smile faded as Paine turned away from her and stood up. Crossing her arms in front of her, she stood perfectly still, not wanting to let her body give her emotions away. Yuna followed her to her feet; she put a hand on Paine's shoulder and moved them back face-to-face. "I'm sorry Paine, I'll stop. I'm just not clear on what exactly you want to talk about."

Paine took a deep breath and moved her left hand to touch Yuna's where it rested on her right shoulder. "That's sort of the problem, neither am I..." Yuna almost interrupted her, but Paine's suddenly pleading expression stopped her. She let her hand drop as her friend moved away and started pacing slowly. "I don't know what it is that's happening between us, if it's even anything at all. I don't have any idea about how you see this... whatever this is." She propped herself heavily against a tree "Maybe it was like a weird dream that doesn't seem like it really happened." She pushed herself back up straight and started moving again, "Maybe you're ashamed of it, maybe you only did it because you felt sorry for me." She stepped back to within arms reach of Yuna, "What happens if we find that guy in the sphere?" She noticed the flicker in Yuna's eyes, but ignored it for fear of not being able to continue. "I don't know if I love you, I don't know if I even can!" She grabbed Yuna's shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. "Even if I can and I do, then I don't know how and I don't know if I love you enough to risk the pain of losing you..." She pulled Yuna into a fierce hug and pressed her flushed face against Yuna's neck.

Yuna's arms curled around her "How do you feel when we're together? Don't think about it, just say it."

"Confused, but happy, I guess." Paine relaxed her grip a little, letting the emotions fade away as she accepted that the flood of words which had summoned them was over.

"Then do we need to know right now if it's more than it seems? Can't we just enjoy things the way they are now?"

Paine sighed. She should have known Yuna would see it that way, but at least now the decision to wait and see was something they both understood. She pulled back far enough to look Yuna in the face, a smile breaking through the mask of anxiety. "I suppose it can wait a while, as long as you kiss me right now."


	11. Tension

_Well. Here it is.  
Trust me, I realise just how long it's been since I updated this thing. I'm apologising as a matter of course, but really, anyone who gets a notification for this and still gives a damn. All I can say is. Sorry. But read on (possibly after reminding yourself of the previous chapters) and hopefully it's worth it. It's almost 4000 words of new material, along with some of the best sexual tension I think I've ever written and a full on erotica scene. If anything can make up for my excessive abscence it's this. And the next chapter I've already started writing. So yeah. here at longlonglonglonglonglonglong long last is Fahrenheit in Celsius Chapter 11: Tension_

Rikku rubbed her jaw, shuffling back onto the bed a little and lying back. Lulu turned to look down at her young friend. "As long as you remember your promise, there's nothing to apologise for." She sighed and lay back alongside her, who rolled onto her side and rested her head on the curve of her arm. "Lulu?"

"Yes Rikku?"

"Is it weird that I feel kinda left out?" Rikku played the fingers of her left hand through the thin sheets of the bed, not really looking at Lulu. Only when the mage turned to face her again did she glance into her deep brown eyes .

"I suppose that depends what you feel left out of. I think it's unusual that you'd let it bother you, rather than getting up and doing something to change it. Where that endless enthusiasm comes from is the one thing I've never been able to work out about you Rikku." She smiled "And now more than ever I wish I knew where you find it. I could use the help dealing with Vidina and Wakka." She lifted her hand to adjust her dress and make it more comfortable to lie on her side.

Rikku relaxed and laughed, trying not to pay much attention to Lulu's dress or its contents. "Does daddy Wakka get in the way sometimes?"

"That's putting it mildly. Why do you think I let him get away with spending so much time elsewhere?" They shared another laugh, before Lulu brought the conversation back to Rikku's odd question. "So what is it you're feeling left out of?"

Rikku thought for a few seconds before she answered. "Well it's kinda hard to explain, I guess it just seems like all my girl friends have found someone to… y'know…" Lulu was uncomfortably aware of all the possible endings to that sentence, but hoped she was interpreting Rikku's emotional investment in it correctly, so chose not to interrupt "… Everyone's got somebody y'know? You and Wakka have had a beautiful baby… Yunie and Paine have this brand new thing going on and… I know it sounds silly, but it could have been me."

This time Lulu couldn't help but ask for clarification, "You and Paine?"

Rikku giggled. "Yeah… it's weird to think abou… eww… you thought I might have meant Yunie didn't you?" She pushed herself up onto her elbow and pushed Lulu onto her back. "That's just weird. Besides Yunie's got enough of her cousins being creepy, even if she hasn't noticed." Her face shifted to a mix of her disdain over Brother's hopeless infatuation and amazement at Yuna's naiveté about the whole situation.

Lulu raised an eyebrow as she recovered her position. "Your brother?"

"Serious Yunie crush yeah. It'd be sad if it wasn't so pathetic." Rikku dropped to her back and gazed up at the roof. "I guess that's the main thing though. I mean, I've been with guys before. Not been with, been with, just been with…"

"I got it Rikku." Lulu smiled at Rikku's returning bounciness, never too far from the surface.

"Anyway, I figured the Gullwings thing was going to be me and my girls on a big adventure to have fun and explore Spira. We've even got a rival, which is pretty cool. I never thought any of us was gonna be getting romantic-y unless we found the sphere guy and it turned out to actually be him y'know." Rikku's hand were flowing through the air above her as she gestured her way through each thought and sentence. They dropped to her sides as she finished and looked over at Lulu, hoping for some kind of insight, she wasn't disappointed.

"I think I understand." Lulu reached out to Rikku who gladly let herself be pulled into an embrace; her head resting beneath Lulu's chin as the two lay together on the bed, "Everyone feels a little lonely sometimes, even if we don't realise it straight away. After Chappu died I felt very lonely, but it took me a long time and a lot of help from Wakka to realise it."

"You make a great mommy" Rikku's comment came as something of a surprise to Lulu.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're really good at the comforting thing 'cause you always know what to say to people, and you're a lot more huggy now that you're a mom. It's nice." Rikku sighed happily as she lay beside her friend, her head resting softly on Lulu's chest. Lulu gave the young Al Bhed a brief squeeze and chuckled quietly. "Thank you Rikku, I hope you're right."

Rikku nodded once. "Tavehedamo." She answered firmly.

Lulu wasn't sure exactly what she meant, but took some comfort from the conviction in Rikku's voice. Closing her eyes and resting in the brief silence before Rikku spoke up again. It was a question Lulu had been half expecting since the conversation had begun. Sometimes being thought of as someone who knows about everything could be difficult, especially when one did have some knowledge of a subject one would rather not share.

"So, um, Lulu… Have you ever…?" Rikku hesitated, not wanting to ruin the moment, but knowing that her mouth had already put her on the brink of the big question left burning a hole in her tongue.

"Have I ever what Rikku?" Lulu didn't sound offended, she sounded a little bit resigned, but she didn't seem like she was trying to get Rikku to stop asking. It was enough of an invitation for Rikku's impulses to jump at the opportunity.

"Have you ever tried the two-girls sex thing?"

Lulu almost laughed at Rikku's phrasing, but managed to supress it to just a smirk. "Yes Rikku, I have. It was quite a few years ago and neither of us have mentioned it since."

"Who was it?" Rikku would have liked to be able to think of a subject to change to, but their positioning, as comforting as it was, had the unfortunate side effect of aiming her sightline directly down Lulu's body, making it annoyingly difficult to think about much else.

"You don't know her, and as much as I like you, I'd prefer it stay that way. Any mention of it could make dealing with her in the future very awkward. I would rather avoid that if I can." The encounter was among the few things which, while not regrets per se, were not something Lulu thought of often. That time in her life had been one long mess of confused emotions and bad choices. Ironically the only thing that seemed like a worse choice at the time had eventually brought her more happiness than she would have believed.

Her contemplation was broken by Rikku's next inevitable question. "Did you… like it?"

Lulu had to think back quite deeply about that and only found her answer as Rikku lifted her head to look her in the eye "Yes. The was nothing emotional about it, but, for what it was, it was enjoyable." She decided to forestall Rikku from any further enquiry by making one of her own. "It wasn't just the relationship part that you felt left out of was it?"

Rikku looked slightly nervous and sat up fully, prompting Lulu to follow suit. "Curiosity is nothing to be embarrassed about Rikku. It's natural to…"

"I watched." Rikku blurted the words out and before Lulu could even begin to wonder what they meant, her face had flushed a deeper shade of red than Lulu had ever seen it and Rikku had stood up and begun to pace the room, an embarrassed panic etched into her face.

"Watched what Rikku?"

"Yunie and Paine… I watched, kind of, and… when they were… the first time… I got scared when she started… So Yunie… But they were… and I…" She stopped, took a deep breath to compose herself and turned to face Lulu before unleashing a stream of Al Bhed faster than Lulu could even hope to follow "E syta socamv lusa frema E fydlrat Paine cilgehk eht vehkanehk Yunie'c bi… wykehy. I couldn't help myself…"

"And I couldn't understand most of that, come back over here and explain it again, carefully, slowly and in a language we're both fluent in." She stood up to take Rikku's hand and bring her back to the bed, where she sat the girl down and knelt in front of her; Rikku refusing to let go of Lulu's hand.

* * *

The forest was peaceful, there was a stillness in the air that mirrored the stillness of the two girls lying curled up together on the cloth, Paine's fingers tracing lazily across Yuna's back where it rested as they held one another, talking about little things and occasionally leaning forwards to gently kiss and share their mutual attraction, while each secretly contemplated how deeply it ran and how long it would last.

Paine felt content in the genuinely peaceful moment she had finally found and was reluctant to bring up anything which could change it too much. Yuna was less cautious though, more readily considering those outside of the moment. "Do you think Lulu and Rikku are ok on their own?"

"I'm sure they're fine. I don't think Rikku's capable of getting bored. She always seems to find some way to keep herself entertained." Though she had no idea what Rikku would manage to find on Besaid, there was undoubtedly something. The girl had an enviable ability to find something new even in such a small environment as the Celsius.

"I'm more worried about Lulu. With the baby, she probably needs as much time to relax as she can get."

"And Rikku's not very good at relaxing, yeah. I'm sure she won't mind if we look after him tomorrow." The idea came mostly from a selfish desire to get Yuna's attention back on her, but it seemed to spark more focus on Vidina.

"You'd want to do that? Look after him all day?" From those words Paine knew she'd locked herself into it, "Sure, like you said Lulu probably needs all the time she can get and it'd be easier for her to head out with Wakka for the day than for us to take the kid out."

Yuna nodded happily, "I bet they'd love it out here, it's so peaceful. We should probably leave the bag a bit lower though, without the ladder it'd be hard for them to get down." Paine smiled at the memory of Yuna's attempt to do just that, finding it more amusing now that the topic of the nature of their relationship wasn't foremost in her mind. "Definitely, unless they've got a favourite sheet of their own that would do." She leaned in to still Yuna's lips and end the discussion, pushing herself closer to deepen the kiss and press her body against Yuna's. Yuna sighed happily at the extra passion in the motion and the feel of her body pressed so close.

Paine eventually broke the kiss and moved to press her lips against Yuna's neck, intending to move down, but Yuna caught her face gently, guiding her up to give herself more easy access to Paine's pale skin. The first kisses along her smooth, graceful neck elicited such a delightful moan from the normally quiet warrior that Yuna spent a long while teasing the surprisingly sensitive skin there with gentle brushes of her lips and, every now and then, a small, soft nip with her teeth; each one making Paine gasp in pleasure. Before too long, Yuna had guided Paine into a reclining position and discarded her shoulder wrap, letting her hands roam freely over Paine's taught torso as she expanded her mouth's explorations to her lover's pale shoulders and the delicate skin of her upper chest. Paine was fully willingly to give Yuna complete control of the situation, the things her mouth was doing before she had even begun to approach her breasts was rousing such a strong desire within her that she could barely move. When Yuna's gently wandering hand finally moulded itself around the mound of her breast she lost herself in the moment and pushed her head down to catch Yuna's lips in a deep kiss and gripped her hand to hold it firm against her sensitive flesh. After a long moment, she pulled her lips from Yuna's and whispered hoarsely, "I don't know where you got that idea from, but remember it."

"You liked it?"

"I almost exploded when you touched here," She gently squeezed Yuna's hand around her breast. "I don't know how much longer I can bear you teasing me."

Yuna smiled happily, pleased that she'd had such an effect on Paine. "I'll keep that in mind. Now lie back and let me get back to it." Paine reluctantly let go of Yuna's hand and laid back, spreading her arms wide, the motion lifting her breasts proud into the air. Yuna obliged Paine's unspoken request that she move on and slid both hands slowly up her flat stomach, slipping her fingers under the edge of the black material holding Paine's breasts and slid it up and off the tops of the soft mounds, smiling at the gasp she gave when Yuna's palms brushed over the already stiffened peaks of her nipples. Leaving them behind for a moment, she kept pushing the material up until Paine moved her arms to let it slip up over her head, where Yuna left it, loosely holding both arms above her head.

Pulling back a moment to take in the view beneath her, Yuna gazed at Paine's athletic form, the muscles in her stomach and sides stretched tight with the position of her arms, holding her firm bust delightfully high and most importantly, within reach. Yuna cupped one of the beautiful breasts in each hand, and gently squeezed them, enjoying Paine's moan of pleasure. Even more so the gasp the accompanied Yuna's mouth closing softly around one of Paine's hard pink nipples, her thumb brushing over the other as her tongue flirted around the delicious bud in her mouth. Paine's moaning quickly escalated when Yuna moved her mouth to the other breast and began again there, this time however, the hand only cupping the breast stroked down her stomach and found the tight material of Paine's shorts, which she hurriedly tugged down just far enough to be able to slip her hand inside. The heat of Paine's arousal was surprising at first, but when Paine's gasps and moans turned into a genuine cry of pleasure at the lightest touch of her slick lips by Yuna's exploring hand, she realised that Paine had been more honest than she thought. When she pressed her fingertip to Paine's hot, wet entrance, and felt hands holding her head tightly in place, Yuna knew it wasn't going to be long before Paine climaxed. So she stopped.

Paine's cry of dismay was short lived when Yuna tugged her shorts down completely and exposed her swollen sex to the comparatively chill air. Barely seconds later, Yuna had moved herself between Paine's thighs and pressed her tongue against the urgently flowing entrance. Paine's hands gripped her own breasts tightly, fingers pinching roughly at her nipples. She began to writhe in ecstasy as Yuna pinned her hips in place and pressed her whole mouth around Paine's hot vagina, pressing her tongue firmly against her hardened clitoris and licking at it hungrily until Paine's cries reached a crescendo and she dropped her hands to her sides and flinched with a loud gasp at even the barest contact with her labia. Her breath coming in deep, swift gulps. Yuna licked her lips clean and moved up beside Paine, who looked at her with a glowing smile and heavy lidded eyes. "Yuna… I've never had… an orgasm like that. You're… amazing… Thank you."

* * *

With a little more coaxing and assurances that no one would hear about anything, Rikku gradually explained how the situation had developed, from Paine's cautious explorations of flirting in the Celsius' bar to Yuna's unintentionally replacing Rikku. Then, with averted eyes, Rikku explained how, after becoming worried about how long the talk was taking, she'd approached Paine's room and accidentally overhearing the two of them exploring each other. At this point she folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes, readying herself to reveal the next part. "I… While I was listening… I…" She swallowed most of her reservations and whispered "masturbated." After a second, she opened her eyes slowly to gauge Lulu's reaction. The surprise, she'd expected; the compassion was less familiar.

Lulu squeezed her hand and smiled. She couldn't think of a thing to say, but just the smile seemed to be good enough.

"You don't think I was, y'know, out of line or something?" Rikku let Lulu's hand slip through her fingers at last and hooked her hands together behind her head.

"No Rikku, from what you've said it sounds like a completely understandable reaction to a situation you were unprepared for. I know Yuna wouldn't hold it against you if you told her. I doubt Paine would either, if she's as much like me as she seems."

Rikku smiled weakly. "It's still weird to think about, but I feel a little better about it. Thanks Lulu. I don't think I'm ready to tell Yunie about it, but I'm pretty sure Paine figured it out." Seeing Lulu's curious expression, she elaborated. "After what happened during the night, we all woke up together and I don't think Yunie would have taken my clothes off."

Lulu had to agree "I don't either." She rose from the floor and sat beside Rikku, a much easier position how that they weren't holding each other's hands. "Well it certainly sounds like you've handled it quite maturely."

Rikku dropped her hands to her lap. "Me?"

Lulu nodded, "Once you had a chance to calm down anyway. You've obviously been supportive of them despite your own issues and that takes courage and…"

Rikku surprised her then. The young Al Bhed leaned in quickly and pressed a small chaste kiss on Lulu's painted lips. "…and so did that. Rikku?"

"Sorry." Rikku stood up again, "That was really dumb." she went to the door, moving to open it, but was frozen in place by the same magical bonds that had muted her only minutes ago. The older woman rose and took Rikku by the shoulder, spinning her round and cupping her cheek. "If you're going to kiss someone, kiss them and mean it. Did you mean it?"

Rikku had no idea what Lulu wanted her to say, so she had to go for the only thing that made sense, even if she couldn't figure out why it did. "Yes. But I'm sorry Lu-mm… Hmm!" She looked at Lulu, a little hurt by the treatment she was receiving for trying to apologise. Rikku might not have known much about Besaid customs, but she was pretty sure you weren't supposed to kiss a married woman unless you were her husband. Punishing her for being sorry she did seemed kind of unfair.

"If you meant it, then you have nothing to apologise for." She let her hand fall away from Rikku's face. "I'm quite flattered you would want to."

Rikku felt the pressure over her mouth cease again and lost to another impulse. "Who wouldn't? You're the most beautiful woman I know." Lulu smiled and leant in to give Rikku an exact mirror of the first kiss, a brief meeting of the lips, ending with a smile.

"Flattery can be a dangerous thing. Especially when you're good at it. I'm sure you've been told that your smile has the power to light up a room, but I doubt anyone has ever compared your skin to the colour of the ocean shore at sunset, especially with the way your hair falls over your shoulders like the last rays of the sun shining a golden path to a secret, private world of radiant, joyful light." Lulu's voice had lowered to just above a whisper as she spoke, and she had kept her eyes locked onto Rikku's, their faces mere inches apart.

Rikku swallowed hard; feeling intensely pleased by Lulu's words, but confused by the way she'd said them. "Wow… You really are good at that."

Lulu smiled, her eyes half closed. "It's easy when you're flattering someone who deserves it."

Rikku blinked. "Um, you can stop now. I'm starting to think you're serious…" She tried to laugh, but Lulu's expression didn't leave much room for humour.

"I am serious Rikku, just because I married Wakka doesn't mean I can't look at you as a woman as well as a friend. I know how it feels to not be sure of yourself." Much to Rikku's relief, she pulled back and released both the magical bonds holding Rikku's limbs and her hypnotic gaze. It seemed like only then that she recognised the look in Rikku's eyes. "Too much?"

Rikku nodded rapidly. "A bit, yeah. That was kind of unreal. If your girl from years ago got that same stare she probably thinks it was a dream. I didn't know anyone could be so scary at the same time as turning me on so much." Rikku clapped a hand over her mouth just as the last words tumbled from her lips.

Lulu smiled. "You might be right about that. I apologise for it being scary."

"But not the other bit?"

"That was the point." A mischievous grin pulled at her lips, lips which Rikku suddenly found immensely fascinating. "It's been a while since I've even tried that, I'd almost forgotten how much fun it can be. Do you want to try it?"

Rikku was a little taken aback by the suggestion, but shook her head shortly, "I think if I got that close to you I'd end up kissing you again." The words had barely left her mouth than Lulu was drawing in close again and her shimmering dark amber eyes met Rikku's once more. The rest of what she said barely registered in her mind before the words came dancing from her recklessly playful tongue. "Because your lips are softer than the whispers of angels, holding a warmth like the first rays of dawn over the horizon. The way they shimmer draws me in like a moth to a flame. Utterly. Irresistible." She moved closer and closer until her last word was a breath passing from her lips directly onto Lulu's followed by a more passionate kiss than either of those which preceded it. Rikku wrapped her arms around Lulu's neck and gently held her close as she kissed her more deeply and pressed their bodies together. Eventually, she released Lulu's lips and just held herself still, face buried in the curve of her neck, softly inhaling her scent with each breath.

Neither of them spoke for a long moment, each stunned for their own reasons. Eventually it was Lulu who broke the silence. "That was more intense than I expected…"

Rikku's only response was "Yeah."

* * *

_So, that was Chapter 11. I don't have much to say beyond what I said at the top. Except that I wish it had always been this easy. One sesison of writing produced this entire chapter. If I could have written essays half ts long in the same length of time I'd have had a much more successful University 'career'._

_Anyway, If you liked it, old reader or new, I'm glad you did. By this point I'm just happy I finally updated it. 'Til Next time._


	12. Diffusion

_Right, this one's not as long as the last, about half the size I'd say, but it's up much sooner afterwards, so that's got to count for something. Anyway, another 2000+ words of Final fantasy themed Lesbian Erotica, both the tension-based kind and the vilgehk aylrudran'c pnyehc uid kind. Read, Enjoy, comment if you have anything you want to say. Try to keep the "Why did it take you this long?" comments to a minimum though k? :P_

"Lulu…" Rikku's voice was low, barely above a whisper, but filled with the same intensity as the kiss they had just shared.

"Yes Rikku?" Lulu wasn't sure what was going through Rikku's mind, so she kept her own voice calm and steady, not quite whispering, but avoiding any extra stimulation. It wasn't often Lulu felt she was losing control of a situation, but the moment Rikku had initiated that last kiss she had felt herself slip.

"I kinda don't want to ask this, 'cause of you and Wakka and stuff, but… right now I really, feel like I wanna... share myself… with you." They were still standing very close, so Lulu didn't notice Rikku's hands moving at first. By the time she realised Rikku had slid them up her own stomach and untied the yellow string between her breasts, the tiny garment was already falling to the floor.

Not daring to look, Lulu kept her eyes locked onto Rikku's swirled emerald ones, the determined intensity burning in them quite at odds with Rikku's normal gaze. "Rikku…?"

"I'm sure Lulu." Rikku's interruption was followed by a soft rustling as one of her elaborate sleeves come loose and dropped to the floor beside her bikini top. "I want to do this, with you. I.. trust you." It was the barest hesitation, but it was there. Lulu almost sighed with relief, but kept her composure as the second sleeve joined its twin.

She closed the distance between them, but cut short Rikku's move to kiss her by wrapping her arms around her young friend's shoulders and guiding her head to rest against the crook of her neck. "This isn't a decision you can make quickly Rikku. For either of us." She felt Rikku's head lift and turn, soft lips pressing into her neck as hands climbed sensuously up her back and curled into the furred hem of her dress.

"I make all my decisions quickly."

"Well I'm not going to let you rush this one, or me." She stroked Rikku's head slowly and gently, trying to soothe her. "You need to give it time. Calm down and think it over. Then, if you still feel this way," She lifted Rikku from her and stalled the eager girl's motion to kiss her with a finger pressed to her lips, "I promise to accept whatever you want to share with me."

When Lulu's finger dropped away, Rikku moved to kiss her again before her conscious mind registered the decision, or how bad an idea it might be.

"Rikku." The warning in Lulu's voice stopped even Rikku's arousal fuelled subconscious. Disobeying her at this point would do more than just annoy her. She took a full step away and was relieved when Lulu's face softened again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and clear her head. It almost worked, but when she opened them again, her vision was filled with Lulu, arms crossed under her generous breasts, a look of satisfaction gracing her perfectly painted face. She was the sexiest woman in the world and she barely seemed to realise it.

"I think the best thing right now would be for you to take a long bath." She moved to part the curtain hiding a large, high-backed metal tub, which she filled with a few words and a gesture, before sprinkling a soft dust from a small pot nearby onto the surface of the water. Then she turned her back on Rikku and left the bedroom, pulling a partition across after her.

Rikku walked uncertainly over to the tub and tested the water. It was the perfect temperature to relax in and the powder was mixing with the water, releasing a subtle, soothing fragrance. With equal parts resignation and reluctance, Rikku stripped off the rest of her clothes and stepped into the water, feeling the comforting warmth surround her. As she lay back and let it rise to her neck, she ran her fingers across her body, remembering just how strong the effect of the brief moments spent kissing Lulu had been on her. Her dark nipples were firm and sensitive and when she touched between her legs, she felt the heat that Lulu's touch had conjured inside her. The urge to release it there and then was strong, but that release was something Lulu had to share in. She'd made a promise and Rikku was determined to make sure she kept it.

* * *

Paine's fingers traced along the pattern down the material covering Yuna's chest as the two girls held each other in the wake of Paine's very recent, very powerful orgasm. Even the breeze brushing air gently across her skin sent shivers of pleasure through her body as echoes of the ecstatic explosion continued to ripple through her.

"It's not really fair you know." She muttered, when she had recovered enough breath to speak.

"Hmm?" Yuna raised her head from where it lay in the crook of her arm and looked down at where Paine lay facing her. "What's not fair?"

"Here I am basically naked for all the world to see and you're still hiding inside all those clothes."

Yuna looked down at them both and giggled. "You've still got your boots on, and your gloves." She lifted one of Paine's gloved hands and kissed it, not bothering to mention all the belts that accompanied her outfit, or the pseudo-braces that currently framed her bared breasts in an almost brazen way.

"You still took all the important bits off." Paine cupped Yuna's face and leant up for a proper kiss before her still recovering strength threatened to give out and she broke away gently.

"So what's your point?" Yuna asked, obviously teasing.

Paine had to wonder whether it was worth trying to take control of the situation, but decided against it. Her body still seemed not to be as reliable as usual. That left her in the unfamiliar position of trying to subtly guide Yuna. It was quite clear she already got the point Paine was trying to make, getting her to go along with it was the issue.

"It just seems unfair that I'm having all the fun" She had so little confidence in the comment, she almost posed it as a question.

"Is that all? Well that's not a problem. I've had plenty of fun too." The smile on her face was genuine and her tone was playful, but after a brief pause, she continued more seriously. "You're really beautiful when you let yourself be."

The unexpected compliment brought a brief blush to Paine's pale cheeks.

"But," Yuna continued, standing up and hooking her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts, "if you insist, I suppose I could take something off, just to make you feel better." She slowly unbuttoned her tight, blue pants and slid them down her legs, the ruffled, blue and white half skirt pooling around her foot before she stepped out of them, standing back up with nothing below her hips but her boots and a pair of soft, plain white panties.

Panties which, Paine could clearly see from her vantage point looking up at her, were showing a clear indication of how aroused she had become as she'd stripped Paine and brought her to that amazing climax.

Yuna knelt by Paine and placed a hand on her cheek. "Better?" The playful smile said how much better she felt without the slightly stiff fabric.

"A little. At least I know you've been enjoying having me like this." The comment and the smile which accompanied it brought a look of puzzlement to Yuna's face before she understood and she covered her flushed face in embarrassment. The hiding only lasted a second before she slapped Paine's arm lightly and gave Paine a half-joking glare.

"That's mean. Just for that, I'm keeping them on." Moving quickly, she positioned herself so that Paine's shoulders were trapped under her shins and she had a perfect view along Paine's naked, sweat-sheened body.

Paine was certain that she could have forced the rest of Yuna's clothes off, even with only about 80% of her full strength, but something about the way Yuna was taunting her, keeping that thin layer of cotton between herself and Paine's hungry eyes was utterly captivating in a way Paine couldn't quite put her finger on. Especially when she saw Yuna's hand slip inside the material to stroke at her undeniably wet lips. The quiet, relieved sigh which escaped Yuna as she stroked her slender fingers over the swollen, sensitive flesh was the first of many. The knowledge that all she could do was watch Yuna's hidden masturbation was exciting in a way Paine had never experienced before.

The fact that the cotton hid everything and nothing at the same time made everything seem so much more intense. Paine's mind easily changed the movements of the shapes in the fabric to the motion of Yuna's fingers on her soft lips, especially when the motion changed and Yuna's hand started to slowly rise and fall beneath the cotton. The movements and shapes told intimately when the kneeling girl slid the first finger inside herself.

Yuna heard herself moan as she pushed her finger between her hot labia and easily slid it deep inside. Paine's responding appreciative sigh was a beautiful sound, matched perfectly to the sight of her pale, pert breasts rising and falling with each breath. That sight alone was more than enough stimulation to keep Yuna's lust enflamed. When her gaze inevitably drifted down the pale, toned stomach to the flushed lips of Paine's barely visible sex, her mind was filled with the recent memories of those same lips, hot and wet under her tongue as they pulsed with the power of the orgasm rocking through her lover. She gasped and began to move her hand more urgently, pressing her palm against the stiffened bud of her increasingly sensitive clitoris. The change of sensation made her moan and she began to grind against her hand. She could hear her breathing growing heavier, almost drowning out Paine's occasional moans of appreciation.

After barely a few seconds of the increased stimulation, she couldn't hold her position as easily and fell forwards onto her free hand. In the new position she was close enough to Paine's still slick labia to be taunted by the faint scent of her orgasm. Before long the thoughts of Paine's gifted tongue dancing over her were too much to bear and Yuna rolled sideways and shed her dampened panties as quickly as she could before straddling Paine's shoulders once more, this time leaving her lover's arms unburdened and facing the other way so she could look down into her eyes and silently plead.

At another time, Paine might have asked for a more vocal invitation, but here and now she didn't even need to see her face to know what Yuna wanted. With those beautiful, pink lips finally bared to her, Paine placed her hands on Yuna's lightly tensed thighs and without the smallest warning, she drove her tongue as deep into Yuna's waiting flesh as she could, savouring the sweetness of her and the gasp of delight her penetration elicited. When she withdrew her tongue and licked it slowly from end to end, stopping with the tip pressed onto her hard clitoris, Yuna moaned long and low, one hand questing down to tangle its fingers in Paine's spiked hair. The other hurriedly dragged the thin straps of her top down her shoulders, releasing her lightly tanned breasts to the air. She quickly cupped one of them and began to gently squeeze the tender flesh and lightly pinch at the tight, pink nipple at the centre.

Paine's hands stroked identical paths up Yuna's sides and down along her thighs as her tongue danced across her swollen lips, probing between them and curling up to brush over the tight bundle of nerves standing out at the peak. Each brief contact there sent a visible shudder of pleasure up Yuna's body, accompanied by a gasp or, more often as time progressed, a long moan.

After what seemed like an eternity of rapture, seeming at each moment unparalleled, then surpassed by the very next sensation, Yuna felt a familiar sensation deep with herself that redoubled the sensations of Paine's loving caresses. The hand twined in Paine's hair tightened its grip almost without her realising.

The slight increase in pressure on her scalp was enough to let Paine know what Yuna was feeling. She lifted one hand from Yuna's thigh to join Yuna's at her breast, the other she moved beneath Yuna's hip and pressed the tip against the wet entrance of Yuna's vagina. As she refocused her tongue's actions entirely on Yuna's clitoris, she pressed her finger into her lover and felt the heat of her surround the digit completely. The intensity of the stimulation sent Yuna falling forwards onto her hands with a high pitched moan, her breath coming hard and fast as she neared the edge.

Paine withdrew her finger almost completely, before joining it with a second and thrusting both deep into Yuna's tight entrance, her new position allowing deeper, more intense penetration without restricting Paine's tongue from tasting every centimetre of her.

"Oh! Yes! Paine. So Close!" Was all Yuna could say before she lost herself to the ecstasy and started to cry out at every slightest motion. Her inner walls convulsed around Paine's fingers and sent a wash down around them, which Paine eagerly lapped up. Eventually withdrawing her fingers and letting Yuna fall back and lie on top of her, bringing her mouth up to kiss and lick at Yuna's sensitive lips as her orgasmic cries repeated with almost every contact until she found the strength to roll off her lover and find some respite from the pleasure.

Shifting herself around, Paine brought her head to meet Yuna's and, as she had before, brought their lips together in a deep kiss, filled with love and tinged with the taste of Yuna's sweet essence.


End file.
